Michael Franz started his career at Steward Observatory January, 1996, when he took a job on the mirror casting crew as a technician. He returned to work at VATT in 2004, assisting with such fascinating endeavors as SCIDAR (Scintillation Detection and Ranging), and sky brightness meters. After Dan left and VATT entered the umbrella of Bob Peterson’s Mountain Operations in 2007, Michael directed the removal and reinstallation of the VATT primary mirror for aluminization. Michael sees the commissioning of VATTSpec as the "high point” of his engineering career. In 2011, Michael retired to move to Northern California, but was talked out of retirement to become the site presence for remote observing at VATT, in September 2012. Currently Michael is working on a new guide camera for VATTSpec and the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) instrument, PEPSI. “Altogether a thoroughly challenging and rewarding career”, concludes Mi- chael, "I wouldn’t have it any other way”.