Instructor Bio

Michael Piraino is an internationally recognized nonprofit leader and inspirational speaker, and has dedicated his life to advocating for children, protecting public lands, and helping individuals and organizations develop greater resilience. He holds a law degree from Cornell University and a master’s degree in socio-legal studies from Oxford University. After an early career practicing and teaching law, he created and led the Minority Fellows program at the National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia University. Michael later served as CEO of the National Court Appointed Special Advocate Association, the nation’s largest volunteer advocacy organization for abused and neglected children, where he spearheaded the organization’s growth to serve 250,000 young people annually.

Michael left that position after 21 years in order to pursue new approaches to using contemporary science to help individuals and organizations better manage change, reduce stress, and achieve their goals. After three years of research and development, he founded Resilience for Success to make these new techniques easily available. Michael is a Certified High Adversity Resilience Coach and Mindfulness Trainer, with additional training from the International Institute for Restorative Practices. He has provided resiliency trainings ranging from one hour to several days to a variety of groups, including at the Rocky Mountain Restorative Practices conference, the Community Wellbeing and Resiliency Conference in Belgium, and multiple other venues in the United States.

His memoir, Other People; The Puzzle of a Life, will be published in the summer of 2025

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