Michelle is a seasoned international trade compliance leader with nearly 20 years of practical experience through a combination of in-house; higher education; law firm; and Big 4 consulting roles.  Currently acting as SAP’s strategic legal advisor for all activities relating to the export of goods and services for North and South America, Michelle works closely with all SAP cloud business groups (Concur; Ariba; Fieldglass; Success Factors) and other functional teams within SAP to ensure compliance with trade laws and market requirements in dealing with customers, partners, authorities, and policy makers. Michelle helps define SAP’s export control and trade sanctions operations policies and standards; develops and implements export and trade sanctions authorization strategies and advises the lines of business on export control and trade sanctions best practices while monitoring SAP’s deliveries in the Cloud and on-premise.  Michelle is also the visionary and lead for the export control legal team’s strategic role-based global compliance enablement/training program.

Prior to joining SAP, Michelle was part of the management team of Deloitte’s Global Trade Advisory Practice Group. Michelle led high performing teams to support global trade matters including the design and implementation of export compliance programs, providing guidance and solutions for proactive and remedial measures for global trade compliance; creating and leading customized export compliance training; and assisting global companies with strategic, operational, and compliance matters as related to mergers and acquisitions, integration activities, trade automation, and business model optimization. 

Michelle is an Advisory Board Member of Women, Influence, Power and the Law and is also an Executive Board member of the Syracuse Law Alumni Association Board.  She is also a founding member of the Syracuse University College of Law Inclusion Network which supports law students of color by providing mentorship, skills training, and opportunities to celebrate and promote diversity.

Michelle received her Juris Doctorate from Syracuse University College of Law and her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of Virginia.  She is a member of the District of Columbia, Virginia, and New Jersey bars.

Michelle and her husband have one young son, and a very active goldendoodle. The family relocated from the Washington DC area to Oahu, Hawaii 2 years ago and enjoy living on the Hawaiian island.