HIGHLAND – Lifetime Highland resident and Certified Public Accountant David Michael plans to bring financial responsibility and conservative principals back to the Madison County Board.
Michael, who is the Director of Development and Finance at the newly established Father McGivney Catholic High School in Glen Carbon, filed petitions last week in the race held by current County Board Member Kelly Tracy, D-Marine. The county board district includes parts of Highland and Livingston, and all of St. Jacob, Marine, and Alhambra.
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Michael graduated Highest Honors from the University of Illinois with his Bachelor in Accountancy in 2010. He then continued his studies at the U of I where he earned his Master in Accountancy in 2011 and subsequently passed the C.P.A. exams.
Michael is a registered C.P.A. in the State of Illinois, but opted to use his abilities to work with his faith instead of pursuing a traditional career in the public accounting field. “Establishing and building a Catholic high school for our community has been my passion and life’s work for the past four years,” Michael said. “I feel so blessed to be part of such a large community project that will produce fruit for Madison County for generations to come.”
Michael’s family owns the well-known fine dining establishment Michael’s Restaurant in Highland. “Growing up in and around a small business my entire life, I was fortunate enough to see my grandparents, Guy and Joann, and my parents, Gaye and Susie, work 80 hours a week to support our family,” he said. “I was also able to see the unfortunate impacts a government can have when it overregulates and overtaxes its people. It is my goal to use my business background to make Madison County a place where small businesses and farmers can start, grow, and thrive without feeling the heavy burdens of regulations and taxes.”
Outside of his work at Father McGivney Catholic High School, Michael has spent extensive time serving in Uganda, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Haiti. In 2013 he launched a campaign to build a well next to a school for disabled children in Gonaives, Haiti. Just a few months after he started the campaign, Michael had more than $8,000 collected from his friends and family and was able to work with a local non-profit to build the well and provide clean water for hundreds of disabled Haitian children.
Michael said that he is looking forward to working with community leaders to improve governmental practices in order to make Madison County a business-friendly environment again.
