Michael J. Porter has been in the investor relations industry for more than 50 years. After working as an analyst and portfolio manager early in his career, he co-founded Porter, LeVay & Rose, Inc., an investor relations firm, in 1971. Michael has provided financial consulting – including board representation, fundraising, corporate governance, media relations, SEC compliance and shareholder outreach – to over a thousand companies as President of PLR, where he serves as a liaison between public companies and financial institutions, including banks, hedge funds and private equity funds. He has represented companies in almost every industry in all 50 U.S. states and in the European Union, Israel and Australia. Michael has consulted to numerous private companies, helping them prepare for their IPOs and to up-list on various exchanges. He has also worked as a consultant with many corporate boards, helping to steer numerous companies toward profitability, and he has served on the board of several public companies. Michael has also sat on numerous panels at investor conferences and trade shows, and he taught Investor Relations at Wagner College in Staten Island.Michael earned a BS in Finance from Rider University in Lawrence Township, NJ, and completed The Owners, Presidents and Managers course at Harvard University School of Business in May 2004. In 2009 he was appointed to the President’s Council at Rider.