Michael Freeman began his career in law enforcement as a Criminal Investigator for the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality. He graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1993 with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology, and was hired by the ODEQ in September of 1994 as a regulatory inspector in the Hazardous Waste program. Mr. Freeman helped build the agency’s criminal investigation program shortly thereafter, in addition to assisting with the formation of the Oklahoma Interagency Environmental Crimes Task Force.

 Mr. Freeman began serving on the board of directors of the Midwest Environmental Enforcement Association in 1999, eventually serving multiple terms as Secretary, Vice-Chair, and Chair of that organization.  In that capacity, Mr. Freeman met Dr. Thompson in 2006 at an environmental training conference in Boise, Idaho, and saw the value of Verbal Judo not only for law enforcement but for anyone who deals with the public on a day-to-day basis. He subsequently became certified as a Verbal Judo instructor, adapted the program for environmental regulatory agencies, and since then has taught the course all over the country to a variety of audiences.

Mr. Freeman holds an Advanced Law Enforcement certification from the Oklahoma Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training, and teaches an accredited continuing education class on environmental crimes several times each year. He is a certified Equal Employment Opportunity investigator, a Certified Computer Examiner (CCE®), a member of the International Society of Forensic Computer Examiners, and has spoken around the country on various environmental and law enforcement topics. He is President and owner of Trilogy Financial Solutions, LLC, an Investment Adviser registered with the Oklahoma Department of Securities, and is a financial counselor trained and certified by nationally-known author and radio talk show host Dave Ramsey. He is a first-degree black belt in American Tae Kwon Do.