Michael Connor is the founding Executive Director of Open MIC, a non-profit that works to foster greater corporate accountability in the media and technology sectors, principally through shareholder engagement. Working with impact investors, Open MIC identifies, develops and supports campaigns that promote values of openness, equity, privacy, and diversity – values that provide long-term benefits for individuals, companies, the economy and the health of democratic society.
Michael helped launch Open MIC in 2007 following a distinguished career as an award-winning media executive, entrepreneur and journalist with extensive experience in television, print and the Internet. A former reporter for The Wall Street Journal and correspondent for ABC News, Michael’s journalism has received numerous honors, including two national Emmys, a duPont-Columbia Award, a Writers Guild Award and a nomination for an Academy Award.
Internationally, Michael was instrumental in the development and launch of Asia Business News, a Singapore-based pan-Asian TV network, and later served as founding Chief Executive of European Business News (EBN), Dow Jones’s London-based pan-European TV network. These two networks were later merged with CNBC and formed the distribution backbone of CNBC International.
Michael currently serves as Vice Chairman of the board of the Center for an Urban Future, a think tank which serves as a catalyst for smart and sustainable policies that reduce inequality, increase economic mobility, and grow the economy of New York City. He also serves on the board of the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development. He is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross and lives in New York City.