Michael Barrett Biography
Michael Barrett (he/him/his) has enjoyed a long and successful career crossing the worlds of finance, business, politics, and entertainment.
With an MBA and a background in finance, Michael excels at helping clients with long-range planning, analysis, and contingency planning to ensure long-term success.
In addition, Michael is extremely valuable as a management resource, helping highly technical financial leaders enhance their people skills to create engaged and highly productive teams.
Michael began his career as an auditor for KPMG, with such diverse clients as The City of New York, Allegheny Corporation, and The Oppenheimer Group of Mutual Funds.
He then moved to the Wall Street investment bank of Kidder, Peabody & Co, first managing their Syndicate Accounting division, next doing Financial Planning and Analysis in the Corporate Finance Profit Center. He ultimately became Controller of Kidder’s Direct Investment Group, which marketed tax sheltered investments to high-end clients.
Michael relocated to Los Angeles to Security Pacific Merchant Bank, where he specialized in analyzing, planning, aggregating, and reporting for their Commercial Real Estate division. When his direct manager accepted a position at First Nationwide Bank in San Francisco, he asked Michael to move with him. At First Nationwide, Michael focused on Commercial Real Estate loan analysis and strategic planning, and was involved in numerous mergers and acquisitions, among them California Federal Bank.
At CalFed, Michael served on several major committees, among them a then-cutting-edge initiative of identifying and promoting minority and women-owned businesses.
While living in San Francisco, he was introduced to Dianne Feinstein, and helped her with the closing of the finances of her gubernatorial campaign committee. It was during that time that Ms. Feinstein decided to run for the United States Senate, and asked Michael to serve as her Campaign Treasurer - a position he held for three successful Senate races, and that remains one of the things he’s most proud of during his long career.
Once again back in Los Angeles, Michael began working in the entertainment industry, where he assisted producer Donald Kushner with the production of several films and the acquisition of Grauman's Chinese Theatre. With that acquisition complete, Michael went on to become a successful television production accountant in Los Angeles and then New York, working on such notable programs as House MD, Up All Night, The Mindy Project, Royal Pains, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Sneaky Pete, The Meredith Vieira Show, The Blacklist, The Last O.G., and The Mel Robbins Show.
In both one-on-one and classroom situations, Michael helps non-finance managers and leaders develop financial literacy and acumen. He also assists on finance projects with key clients. He is Vice President and Treasurer of The Mitch Lippman Group, Inc.
Michael earned a B.A. in Business Administration from Rutgers College, and an MBA in Accounting/Finance from Rutgers Graduate School of Business.
Michael and his husband, Mitch Lippman, both born in New York City, currently live in Los Angeles. They have two daughters and two grandsons. Michael is an accomplished amateur figure skater and an avid figure skating fan.