You won’t be surprised to learn that Michael Van Beek grew up in West Michigan, given his family name. But unlike many of Dutch ancestry, he got a chance to dig into his heritage.

“Our family lived in the Netherlands for three months in 2019,” he says. “It was an opportunity to learn more about our ancestry, especially since my wife’s family is also Dutch. And for our three kids to experience a different culture for a bit. We loved it.”

Mike’s interest in genealogy stems from a passion for history. He majored in the subject at Hope College and went on to earn a master’s degree from Purdue University. He taught high school at a small private school in Grand Rapids before coming to the Mackinac Center in 2009.

“My teaching experience opened my eyes to the impact public policy has on education,” Mike says. “It seemed that every barrier to improving how well schools could educate students stemmed from some misguided law or regulation.”

He started at Mackinac as the director of education policy before becoming the director of research in 2015. In that role, he manages the Center’s long-form research publications. He also manages our Board of Scholars, a group of academics and field experts who support and contribute to our mission.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mike became an expert on the state’s emergency power laws and lockdown orders. Mike began tracking and explaining these rules after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer took to issuing executive orders without the consent of other elected officials. His work received widespread attention in the media and online. The Michigan Supreme Court cited his research into the state’s history of emergency powers, holding that the governor’s orders were illegal and unconstitutional.

“The government’s overreaction to the pandemic clearly demonstrated the problems with the administrative state,” Mike says. “State agencies run by unelected bureaucrats have the legal authority to literally control our lives, and all they need is a reason.”

Sports have always been a big part of Mike’s life. He captained Hope’s baseball team and was a three-time all-conference player. As a college senior, he was the league MVP. He now spends countless hours in the evenings and on weekends coaching, playing, or watching his kids play soccer. He also referees, a role Mike says parallels his work in public policy.

“Being a good soccer referee seems to be about making the right decisions,” Mike said. “But your more fundamental role is to create a predictable environment that allows the players to flourish and achieve their best. If more politicians viewed their role in the economy that way, we’d be much better off.”