Michael received his BS in Mathematics, History, and Economics in 1976 from Shepherd College (Shepherdstown, WV). From there he entered Virginia Tech and received his MS in statistics in 1979. Starting in 1979 he worked in the Forecasting department of Duke Power Company in Charlotte, NC, until 1994. While at Duke Power he represented his company on various external work teams including Edison Electric Institute (EEI) Future's Project and the National Energy Modeling System (NEMS) for the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Both of these efforts were used in the preparation of the Energy Policy Act (EPACT) of 1992. Additionally, Michael was the founder and first chapter president of the Carolina's chapter of the National Association of Business Economics (NABE).

     While in Charlotte Michael served as an adjunct faculty member at various colleges and universities teaching courses in statistics, mathematics, and economics. He went back to school at night at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and received his MS in Economics in 1993. In 1995 he and his family moved to Chicago where he worked for Commonwealth Edison. He served at Commonwealth Edison as the Supervisor of Load Forecasting and Analysis from 1995 until 1998. Starting in 1998 he was chosen for a special work team to prepare Commonwealth Edison for the load profiling and short-term load forecasting part of de-regulation in the state of Illinois. He served in that capacity until 2000 when he returned to his duties of load and revenue forecasting.      

     While in Chicago Dr. Rife started work on his Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Illinois with areas of specialization in econometrics/time series analysis and in regional/urban economics. Following the completion of his Ph.D., in 2002, he and his family moved to Portland, Oregon to work for PacifiCorp as a senior consultant in the load forecasting area and is now with the resource planning group. In addition to working at PacifiCorp, Dr. Rife is teaching economics and business statistics at Portland State University in both the economics and business departments. His hobbies include traveling, golf, and reading.