Michael King gave his classification talk.
Michael King took us on a fascinating journey as he gave his classification talk "My Accidental Career"
 
Michael is a Victoria Native and after a circuitous journey is happy to be back in Victoria.  His wife, Yanna, joined him for the meeting.
 
Michael joined Rotary because he wanted a connection in the community, to volunteer and to have fun!
 
Michael is named for his great grandfather who in the late 1800s criss-crossed the Island in search of lumber.  He was almost killed by a bear, was running for his life (and losing that race) when a tree fell down on the bear.  His grandfather was one of the first to see 'Sasquatch' in the Island mountains and Kings Peak at Strathcona Park is named for him.  He is buried in Ross Bay Cemetary with others from Mike's family.
 
Michael's grandfather was a doctor and fought in WWI and WWII as a pilot.  Michael's father also was a doctor and his mother, a nurse from Saskatchewan.  They had 6 children, including Mike and his twin brother.  His mother is French Canadian, so they were raised bilingual.  The family moved alot, going to Toronto, Shawnigan Lake to the original family cabin, and Al Ain in the UAE where Michael also learned Arabic.  In 1982 - 85, Michael attended St. Michaels University School.  His father was an alumnus and his son has just graduated from SMUS.
 
In 1985 - 89, Michael attended Queen's University for his B. Comm. on the advice of a school counselor.  He didn't know what he wanted to do and his father discouraged all of his children from following in his footsteps as a physician.  What Michael really wanted to do was travel.  So, in 1989 - 90, he taughte English in Kyoto and learned Japanese.  He wanted to be in the Foreign Service and he wrote the exam; but, PM Chretien temporarily shut down the program and they didn't do any new hires for three years.  So, Michael went to Switzerland from 1990 - 92 to work in the World Bank.  From 1992 - 98, he was in New York City and London, raising money for the World Bank for development programs.  In, 1998, he was asked to do something that was an Ethics violation, so he left and from 1998 - 2001, he was at the London School of Economics. 
 
He met Yanna, who is German, in London in 1999 and they married after he completed his Ph. D.   They have two boys are were raised bilingual with English and German.
 
He wanted to be a University Professor, but discovered he had taken the 'wrong' Ph. D. (International Politics and Economics).  His alma mater, Queens, told him he'd never become a professor with that Ph. D.  He was hired by Deutshe Bank; but, was laid off before he started.  He went to work for David Dodge at the Canadian Central Bank.  He went for the work, NOT the money.  He was at the central bank from 2001 - 2008.  In 2008 - 2011, he worked at the Bank for International Settlements.  It is owned by all the central banks to manage the reparation money the Germans paid after WWI.  He started this work right when the 2008 economic crisis hit and during the Greek crisis, his back gave out and he had chronic muscle fatigue and had to go on medical leave.  The Canadian banks are in good condition.  We all pay high fees; but, he does recommend buying Canadian bank stocks which have a steady 4% yield, year over year.  One of Canada's strength is that mortages are secured by the government through the CMHC.
 
He decided to once again pursue an opportunity to be a professor.  UVic didn't respond to him but he got a position with the Ivey Business School at Western because of all the research he had done as part of his years with the Central Banks.  FINALLY, in 2019, Michael was offered a position at UVic Gustavson School of Business and he was able to come home.
 
As a university professor, Michael teaches 40% of the time, researches 40% of the time and 20% of his time is spent serving on Committees and doing other administrative work.  COVID has made teaching 'challenging'.  We have learned that we can impart information virtually; but, the students aren't getting the life experiences and fun of university.
 
Larry Sims thanked Michael for his great presentation and his interesting life journey!