1. Please tell us the name of your firm, title, and describe your role in one sentence. I'm a Vice President within Fixed Income Research at Morgan Stanley. I focus on Agency MBS and analyze and write about trends and tactical strategy in the mortgage market.

2. What are your fundraising and athletic goals for The Decathlon, and what led you to choose them? My current fundraising goal is to reach $20K. Raising money to help fund a clinical trial for pediatric cancer research is what this event is all about and I'm excited to do this work alongside so many other motivated decathletes. I set my athletic goal at 2:30 on the 800m, and admittedly it is an aggressive goal for me, but I will train my best to see through that level and maximize donations.

3. On average, a Decathlete receives donations from 34 supporters. What fundraising technique(s) have worked best for you that you would recommend to first-time participants? As a first-time participant myself I didn't know what would be most effective. I made a few videos to create awareness and help in the fundraising effort, but I've found that directly reaching out to people is the best approach. People care and when they receive that personal connection and find out what you are doing, they are likelier to engage. Don't be afraid to step outside your comfort zone and reach out to people in your extended networks - this is great work for a great cause and people recognize that.

4. Most Decathletes have participated in mud runs, 5k's, and triathlons. What differentiates The Wall Street Decathlon experience from those other events? As a long distance runner, I'm familiar with the energy demands of endurance events. However, the Decathlon is a high intensity endurance event that calls upon many disciplines other than running, and that is evident by how versatile and different each training session is. What separates this from the rest is being able to toggle between each of these disciplines to maximize points, rather than minimize total time for the event.

5. What are you looking forward to most about The Wall Street Decathlon this year?Everyone talks about the camaraderie and the team work on event day. I am most looking forward to that. I am looking forward to the energy and the excitement of cheering on fellow decathletes and having fellow decathletes cheer me on so we could all achieve our best and hit our personal goals.

6. What is your Marquee Event, Marquee Event Goal, and how are you training to achieve your goal? My marquee event is the 800-meter run and the goal I set for myself is 2:30. I’ve not run track before, so I rely heavily on the track sessions the Decathlon sets up with Coach Towle to learn what I should be doing in terms of speed work. The sessions have been an amazing resource so far and I plan to attend as many as I can. Outside of running intervals, I run 5k races, bike ride for speed along the Hudson or in the park, climb stairs to the top of my office building for time, and do box jumps and lunges.

You can donate to Michael's personal fundraising page here.