Mike Haaren is the co-founder and COO of Staffcentrix, LLC, a workforce development consulting firm specializing in Internet-enabled, home-based employment strategies. A former Wall Street attorney, Mike was instrumental in the development of the first Portable Career Training Program for military spouses, a telework-based self-employment program now offered by the Air Force, Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard at over 40 facilities internationally.

Among other achievements, Mike co-founded the International Virtual Assistants Association in 1999, and appears often in such media as Business Week, Fortune, Inc. Magazine and The Wall Street Journal as an authority on virtual outsourcing. He is the Editor-in-Chief of a new weekly bulletin of screened telework and freelance jobs -- the "Rat Race Rebellion" -- and is a longstanding advocate of home-based virtual careers as a viable option for people with disabilities and those concerned with the negative effects of suburban sprawl.

Mike's presentations include the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities, the Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities, and the United Nations, and his articles on virtual careers have appeared internationally in such publications as the Foreign Service Association Journal, Paraplegia News, and the Singapore Straits Times. His newest book on Internet-enabled self-employment, The 2-Second Commute, will be published by Career Press this Spring.

Mike graduated summa cum laude from Georgetown University in 1974, and received his JD from the University of Virginia in 1979. He heads Staffcentrix' Washington, DC Metro office in Sterling, VA.