Alumni Spotlight
Michael Winter ’66: “The harder you work, the luckier you get.”
Michael Winter ’66
When you meet Michael Winter ’66, you’d never know that he came to America with his parents when he was 12 and spoke no English.
Today he is a Managing Director of the J.P. Morgan investment banking and financial services firm with some $5 trillion in assets. English High boasts a long history of alumni luminaries including banker Charles Hayden, Class of 1886; businessman Edward Hennessy, Jr. ’45; and auto magnate Herb Chambers ’59, to name a few. (Historic footnote: The namesake of today’s J.P. Morgan was John Pierpont Morgan, a financier and investment banker who graduated in 1854.)
As World War II was raging, in the early 1940s, Michael’s parents were fortunate to flee their native Vienna and reach British Mandate Palestine – now Israel. But his parents knew the growing tension between many Arab countries and the fledgling State of Israel could become an all-out war and they chose not to remain. They emigrated and settled in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood which in the mid-20th century had a large Jewish population. Many were Holocaust survivors and refugees from war-torn Europe.
Michael Winter in the 1966 English High Yearbook
It was only natural that when Michael was ready for high school, the Winters chose to send him to The English High School, the oldest public high school in America, which had a reputation for academic excellence and a tradition of welcoming immigrant children as it had done since its founding in 1821.
At English High, Michael liked math courses because of his natural acumen for numbers. He also enjoyed American and World History because of the subject matter – his own family’s experience – and thanks to his favorite teacher, Anthony DiIeso, who had “an excellent teaching style and attitude.”
Upon graduation, Michael entered Northeastern where he majored in Business Administration and got a co-op job at State Street Bank. This led to a series of investment jobs in New York and Boston. He has been in his current J.P. Morgan role since 2010 guiding clients through the complex world of bonds, hedge funds, options and derivatives, managing and tailoring portfolios for high-net-worth individuals.
Michael believes in the importance of urban schools that provide an opportunity to meet students from different parts of the city. His sage advice to today’s EHS students:
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- Persistence and determination pay off. Don’t ever give up.
- The harder you work, the luckier you get. You create your own luck.
- Nine-tenths of wisdom is being right on time. You have to be there. Show up
- Learn how to sell yourself. No matter what your expertise, no one knows what you know, unless you inform them and let them know what the benefit you provide to them
- Success means making sacrifices.
Wife Deborah Goldberg was former chair of the Board of Selectman in Brookline and has been Mass. State Treasurer since 2014. They have four adult children and three grandchildren, all of whom live in the area. Michael says, “They all have demanding jobs and work hard. I’m proud of all of them.”
Michael devotes much of his free time to philanthropic endeavors: He served on the boards of Jewish Vocational Services and Adoptions with Love, and has been active with the Museum of Science, Children’s Hospital, Northeastern University’s Family Business Center, and Jewish Big Brother/Big Sister. He enjoys golf, skiing and biking.
Asked why he continues to work in the midst of his seventh decade. Michael Winter smiles, “Why would I stop doing what I enjoy so much?”
