Historian and speaker Mike Lawrence has delivered well-known presentations (such as his talk at the Mound Cold War Discovery Center) exploring how Dayton, Ohio,  became a global hub for innovation. He highlights the city's remarkable history of producing world-changing ideas.

Mike was born in Cincinnati and grew up in east Dayton. He earned a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Cincinnati and worked for 40 years in the printing machinery industry. He is a volunteer interpreter at Carillon Historical Park in Dayton, a volunteer tour guide and speaker for Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum, and also operates “See Dayton Tours”, conducting historical theme bus tours and presenting historic slide lecture programs around the Dayton community.