In March, 2005, Michael was retained to serve as the Executive Director of the Kern County Taxpayers Association.  In April 2009, he was named President of the Kern County Taxpayers Education Fund, Inc. and Academy Director of Kern Leaders Academy.  From 2011-2016, he served on the Kern County Employee Retirement Association Board, appointed by the Kern County Board of Supervisors, serving as Board Chairman in 2014.

Michael has served on the California League of (School) Bond Oversight Committees since 2008 and is currently Board President. Under his leadership, KernTax has helped Kern County property taxpayers avoid over $1.6 billion in general obligation bond payments. In 2010, Kerntax intervened at the CPUC in PG&E’s General Rate Case, which has resulted in savings of tens of millions of dollars for Kern County PG&E residential customers.  In 2014, working with County of Kern and the City of Bakersfield, Michael began “Closing the Skills Gap,”  a local initiative in workforce development, now known as the Kern County Workforce Taskforce.  In 2015, working with County of Kern, the Kern Community College District and the Kern High School District, KernTax was the catlyst in establishing “The 1 +1+2=Game Changer”, a plan that established dual enrollment at Arvin High School and other Kern High School District campuses.

From 1975 to 2004, Michael was a partner in the family farming business.  In 1979, he started D and M Sprayers, a company specializing in the application of ag chemicals to orchards and vineyards.  In 1985, Turnipseed Brothers planted the first commercially viable cherry orchard in the Southern San Joaquin Valley.  In 1995, he co-organized the California Cherry Growers Association, which established export protocol to Japan for new cherry varieties.  In 1999, Michael co-founded South Valley Cherry Growers, LLC, a packing company specializing in exporting sweet cherries to Japan.

From 2004 to the present, he has operated Michael Turnipseed and Associates (MTA), serving as an self-employed consultant specializing in Governmental Affairs and Strategic Planning

For forty years, Michael has actively participated with many civic organizations.  He has served as Board Chairman of the Kern County Taxpayers Association, Chairman of the Governmental Review Council of the Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce, on the Executive Committee of the Kern County Farm Bureau, on the State Board of the California Farm Bureau Federation, as a member of the Advisory Committee of the Kern County Permit Assistance Center, on the Kern County Fair Board, as a member of the Kern County Energy Task Force, as a member of the Kern County Water Resources Advisory Committee, and as a member of the Citizens Advisory Group of Industries (SJVUAPCD).  In addition, he was active in the Project Clean Air, Couples against Cancer, St. Francis School Foundation, and the Garces Memorial High School Boosters Club and is currently a member of Bakersfield Breakfast Rotary Club.

On the political side, he has worked on many grassroots issues.  He has served as a Director of Farm PAC, Treasurer of the Kern County Republican Central Committee, Co-founder and Treasurer of the Friant Water PAC, an organizer of the San Joaquin River Coalition, Chairman of the South Central Farmers PAC,  a member of the Finance Committee for the Yes on Proposition 204 Campaign and a Trustee of the Delano Joint Union High School District.

Michael received his Bachelor’s Degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of California, Davis, graduated from the California Agricultural Leadership Program, participated in Leadership Bakersfield and successfully completed the Executive Program in Management from the Anderson Graduate School of Management, University of California, Los Angeles.

Michael has been married to his wife, Nancy, for 38 years and has two grown daughters, Amy and Alissa.