Mike skinner | Executive Director

Mike founded CIE because he deeply believes in the transformative power of entrepreneurship. Working with CIE’s Board of Directors, Mike sets the strategic direction for the organization, develops and stewards strategic partners, establishes the organizational culture, and relentlessly advocates for entrepreneurs in the margins of our rural communities.

After twelve years as a corporate finance attorney in New York, Seattle and the Bay Area, Mike chose to dedicate his energy to the elimination of poverty and the development of individual economic self-sufficiency and strong local economies. Mike spent a year in Central America where he volunteered with a microcredit organization serving Mayan women business owners in the Western Highlands of Guatemala and helped a group of low-income business women in Nicaragua form a self-help bank. As a VISTA with the Diocese of Olympia, Mike helped develop the JumpStart Fund, a microloan program serving refugees and other newcomers in the Seattle area. At JumpStart, he played a key role in the formation of the Washington State Microenterprise Association where he served two terms as the association’s board chair. As Manager of Training and Education at the Association for Enterprise Opportunity, Mike developed training workshops for the organization’s annual conferences and regional training institutes.

Prior to launching CIE, Mike developed and managed StartZone, an award-winning microenterprise development program of Highline Community College that continues to provide first-level training and technical assistance to low-income underserved communities in South King County in partnership with the Highline Small Business Development Center.

Mike earned a JD from Columbia University School of Law and a BA in Philosophy from the University of Washington.

In his spare time, Mike likes to daydream about being a rock star, sailing around the world, living off the grid, and growing and fermenting his own food, which his wife and two daughters usually tolerate and sometimes enable.