Michael Howard Kerr graduated from St. John's University with a Business degree in 1969; he began his career working in the buyer's executive training program at Abraham & Strauss Department Store, and in 1972 he left New York for Texas to continue his retailing career; and In 1982, Michael Howard Kerr returned to New York to operate M&R Management Company, a family real estate business in New York City, and in 1992, he started Optimum Solutions Corporation (OSC), an imaging based data-extraction company. He served as both Fire Commissioner and Police Commissioner in his home village of Woodsburgh, New York; he was later elected and served as a village Trustee, and at The Seawane Country Club in Hewlett Harbor, New York, he served as Secretary, Vice-President, and later, as President from 1998-2000. He was a Trustee at Temple Israel, and past President and Chairman and current Board Member of the Jewish Community Center of the Greater Five Towns; he is also a past Board Member of UJA/Federation of Greater New York. He is also a Board Member of the Rent Stabilization Association of New York (RSA), and President of the Associated Builders and Owners of Greater New York (ABO). his wife, Susan, have two sons, Joshua and Zachary (Jessica) and two grandchildren.