Michael B Knudsen

Michael (Mike) Knudsen brings a vast array of California state legislative experience to Pacific Strategy Group. As the founder and President of Knudsen & Associates, Mr. Knudsen specializes in high level California legislative and regulatory problem solving and advocacy. Some of Knudsen & Associates’ current clients include: Wells Fargo Bank and its subsidiaries, for which Mr. Knudsen is the principal California lobbyist, The Auto Club of Southern California (AAA), The California Restaurant Association, Bally Total Fitness Corporation, and various other entities. Mr. Knudsen is a member of the California, Arizona, and Nevada bars. Mr. Knudsen is an honors graduate of Brigham Young University (with a degree in Political Science and a Philosophy minor) as well as an honors graduate of Brigham Young University’s J. Reuben Clark Law School. After graduation from law school, Mr. Knudsen clerked for the Nevada Supreme Court and then associated with a large Sacramento law firm. Mr. Knudsen’s law practice included commercial and construction litigation and appellate advocacy. During private practice, Mr. Knudsen was also a registered NFL and CFL players’ agent. In the early 1990s Mr. Knudsen left the active practice of law to join the 3,000 member California Association of Mortgage Brokers (CAMB) as its Director of Government Relations. In that capacity, Mr. Knudsen represented California mortgage brokers and CAMB in state and federal legislative, regulatory, and legal matters. Mr. Knudsen then joined the California Mortgage Bankers Association (CMBA) where he served as the Senior Vice President of Government Relations. At CMBA, Mr. Knudsen was responsible for managing all legislative, legal, regulatory, and political matters that affected the association, its members, and the California real estate finance industry. Since 1992, Mr. Knudsen has been very active in all aspects of California legislative, regulatory, and political matters, particularly those matters affecting mortgage finance and financial institutions, as well as business in general. Mr. Knudsen has been significantly involved in matters relating to corporate governance, privacy, accounting, health club regulation, litigation, and liability reform. Mr. Knudsen has spoken and written widely on many aspects of California politics, legislation and regulation. Mr. Knudsen has served as an adjunct professor of law at the University of Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, California where he taught Negotiation and Settlement. Mr. Knudsen, his wife, Gwen, and their six children, live near Sacramento, California.