Before serving as Middlesex’s Board President from 1999–2004, Mike was the national chairman of The Campaign of a Century. A trustee since 1993, Mike has followed the example of his father, the late Royall Victor ’32, who served on the Board from 1958 to 1961. Mike believes that Middlesex had an enormous impact on his growth and development as a young man and hopes to carry on the magnificent job that his predecessors have begun in shaping one of the top small, coeducational boarding schools in the country.
After graduating from Middlesex, Mike attended Yale University and served in the U.S. Army’s Security Agency for three years. Following his honorable discharge, he returned to Yale and earned his B.A. in economics. Mike began his career in banking in 1964 at Chemical Bank. After serving as vice president and general manager of Chemical Bank’s branch in Paris, he was appointed senior vice president in the corporate division in 1978 and was named head of Chemical’s U.S. Group in 1980. In 1997, Mike retired as managing director of the Chase Manhattan Corporation’s Chase Securities, Inc. Prior to the 1996 merger of Chemical Banking Corporation and Chase Manhattan, he held a similar position with Chemical Bank. A former member of Cercle Interalliee, he has served on the Board of Directors of the American Chamber of Commerce in France and the American Club of Paris.
Mike is passionately committed to supporting private education and to issues of conservation and the environment. Since his retirement from the banking industry, he has devoted much of his time to coastal preservation on the island of Palm Beach. Increasingly concerned about environmental and educational issues in his home state of Florida and around the world, Mike serves on the Board of the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties. He has also devoted significant time to his work on the board and executive committee of the Atlantic Salmon Federation and other conservation organizations.
Among his other board affiliations, past and present, are U.S. Industries, USI Atlantic Corp., Jacuzzi Brands, Inc., Marine Harvest International, Sea Research Foundation, the New York City School Volunteer Program, the Angler’s Club of New York, Turtle Bay Music School, Palm Beach Civic Association, White Memorial Foundation, White Memorial Conservation Center, and Housatonic Valley Association-Green Print.
Mike and his wife Wendy make their home in Palm Beach, Florida. Mike’s stepdaughter, Laura Waldorf Griffen, is a graduate of the class of 1988.