Michael di Pretoro moved to Sidney in his sophomore year when his father, the Rev. J Alan di Pretoro, became rector of St Paul's Episcopal Church. After graduating from Sidney High, earning a BA Degree from Syracuse University and a Juris Doctorate degree from Albany Law School, Michael joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation and served for 30 years, retiring as the Deputy Assistant Director in charge of International operations.
He served as the Legal Attaché at US missions in Manila, Hong Kong and Moscow, receiving the Directors Sustained Distinguished Service Award and the FBI Director's Second Tier Award for Excellence, read into the Congressional record.
Having worked numerous cases of espionage, organized crime and international terrorism he was chosen to open and serve as the first FBI Legal Attaché assigned to the US Embassy, Moscow where he developed working relationships with Russian law enforcement. In his book The Threat Matrix (The FBI at War in the Age of Global Terror), author Garret Graff commented " … it was an odd turnabout for the counter intelligence agent to sit across conference tables from his old KGB adversaries." Graff described Michael as "a very influential agent in shaping the FBI's post-Cold War evolution."
Following his Bureau career Michael worked in London for Goldman Sachs as its regional security director for Europe, Africa and Middle East and then in 2002 he and his wife, Elizabeth returned home to Lafayette, CA first heading the San Francisco office for IPSA International Inc. (a premier global provider of investigative consulting services - in the areas of anti-money laundering, intellectual property, asset location, fraud and due diligence) and then serving as the US based executive for a Hong Kong headquartered risk consultancy. He recently set up his own small consultancy, focused on due diligence projects in Russia and China.
Michael has also facilitated Department of Homeland Security sponsored workshops for U.S. mayors and senior local officials on how to prepare for, respond to, and recover from terrorism incidents and natural disasters.
At a Sidney High School Career Day, an FBI agent made a presentation that intrigued Michael about finding a career in the FBI which he did immediately after Law School. Having studied Latin in high school he had a strong foundation for learning the Russian language. In completing a questionnaire for his 20th class reunion, he described himself as a Russian Linguist saying "if only Mary Ruland, my Latin teacher, could see me now."