The political repression of the USSR’s totalitarian regime, combined with government-sponsored discrimination of Jews, motivated Mike and Sofia to emigrate to America.
They each received their Master of Engineering Degree from Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute. The couple married in 1974, and emigrated to the United States in 1978 with their young son Paul. They settled in St. Louis, Missouri where their second son Ted was born.
After a dozen years working in the electric power industry field, in 1990, Mike founded LS Power as a startup to pursue development and investment opportunities in the power generation arena. Sofia, having focused on the development of software for the industry, supported the work and acted as an advisor for the bourgeoning company.
Today, LS Power has grown to become the largest privately held power generation company in the United States.
Mike is a member of the Board of Directors of the Washington Institute for Near East Studies; a non-partisan think tank that provides analysis and develops recommendations regarding America’s policy in the Middle East, and the Center for Global Energy Policy (CGEP) at Columbia University. Sofia is on the Board of Directors of the New Jewish Home in New York and of ANU — Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv. Mike and Sofia live in New York City. They have two sons and six grandchildren.