Dr. Michael Friedman is currently the President of the Isadore & Bertha Gudelsky Family Foundation, a member of the Board of Directors of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, a Trustee of the United Jewish Endowment Fund of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, and a member of the Board of Directors for Project Interchange. A graduate of the Wexner Heritage Program, Dr. Friedman served as President of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington between 2016-2018 and been a member of many community boards, including the University of Maryland Hillel. For the Jewish Agency for Israel, Dr. Friedman has been committee member of the Israel Task Force on Campus Engagement and served on the international advisory board for the Masa Israel Journey program.

Professionally, Dr. Friedman is a Lecturer in the Physical Cultural Studies Program in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Maryland. His research focuses on the relationship between public policy, urban design, and professional sports in the postindustrial city with a perspective informed by cultural studies and cultural geography. By examining sports facilities such as stadiums and arenas, he is concerned with the ways in which space expresses and (re)produces power relationships, social identities, and societal structures. Dr. Friedman’s first book, Mallparks: Baseball Stadiums and the Culture of Consumption will be released by Cornell University Press in July 2023. The book ties together more than twenty years research on baseball stadium development, much of which has been published in academic journals, including the Sociology of Sport Journal, International Review for the Sociology of Sport, Journal of Urban Affairs, Economic Development Quarterly, and City, Culture & Society. Dr. Friedman also serves as Treasurer for the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport.