Michael Weidrich has been an activist and advocate for over 30 years, fighting for the marginalized and disenfranchised. Michael has spent his career helping people in the community through grassroots work with nonprofit organizations across Upstate New York, from artists to small businesses, to LGBTQ+ people to communities of color, from youth to senior citizens.

Michael has served as Executive Director/CEO of the Pride Center of the Capital Region, the Lark Street Business Improvement District, Young Audiences of Western New York, and currently at the South Buffalo Community Association, with tenures in Resource Development at the Albany Institute of History & Art, Cohoes Senior Center, In Our Own Voices, and the United Way of Buffalo & Erie County.

An alumnus of the Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts, Michael earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Syracuse University, and a Master’s of Business Administration in Nonprofit Management from Albany’s College of Saint Rose. Michael has graduated from numerous leadership programs including the Harvard Business School Not For Profit Management Program, Health Foundation of Western & Central New York’s Health Leadership Fellows, Open Buffalo’s Emerging Leaders Program and Justice Leadership Institute, Leadership Buffalo, the FBI Citizens Academy, Leadership Capital Region Albany, and the Capital Region Chamber’s Entrepreneur Boot Camp.

Michael currently co-chairs the Older Adults Committee for Erie County’s Live Well Erie initiative. Michael has also been recognized for his work in the community with the FBI Directors Community Leadership Award, The Stakeholders Founders Award, the Albany Business Review’s 40 Under 40 Award, the Albany County Convention & Visitors Bureau’s Hospitality Excellence Award, the Pride Center of the Capital Region’s Volunteer of the Year, and the Lark Street Business Improvement District’s Honoree of the Year.