Mayor Pro Tem O’Keefe has owned a residence in the Coachella Valley since 1981 and has been a full-time resident since 1998. He has served on the City Council since December 2023.

Among his foremost priorities are maintaining the city's robust fiscal health, preserving public safety, promoting tourism, encouraging affordable workforce housing, developing cell phone and broadband connectivity, and advocating for animal adoption.

Mayor Pro Tem O’Keefe represents the city on the Coachella Valley Association of Governments (CVAG) Homelessness Committee, the Vice Chair of the Coachella Valley Animal Campus Commission, the Cove Communities Services Commission, the Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District Board of Trustees, and the League of California Cities Annual Conference. He has also represented the city at the Children’s Discovery Museum of the Desert, the Joslyn Center for Seniors, and the CVAG Conservation Commission. He is the alternate representative for the CVAG Executive Committee, CVAG Energy and Environmental Resources Committee, CVAG Conservation Commission, and Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) General Assembly.

Michael has served on the boards of several charitable organizations including the  Rancho Mirage City Cultural Commission. He has served as Chair of the Western Art Council at the Palm Springs Art Museum, President of the Board for the Gay Men’s Chorus of Palm Springs, President of Cabot’s Museum Foundation, Board Director for Family Services of the Desert, and Board Director for Food Now.

During his residency in Desert Hot Springs, Michael served on the Cultural Affairs Commission, the Parks and Recreation Committee, the Economic Development Committee, and the Redevelopment Successor Agency. He also held the position of Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce.

His civic involvement extends to numerous charitable organizations. He has served on the Community Outreach Advisory Committee at Del Webb. He is a member of Preservation Mirage and is an advocate for historical preservation. He has volunteered extensively with prominent organizations, including DAP Health, the Betty Ford Center, and Eisenhower Medical Center. In Los Angeles, he interned with AIDS Project Los Angeles and volunteered at Project Angel Food. He was honored as the Coachella Valley Volunteer of the Year on National Philanthropy Day in 2009. He received the Angel on Earth Award from Angel Light Academy in 2025.

He enjoyed a distinguished career spanning more than two decades as a retail executive, holding positions as a buyer and general manager at I. Magnin, Neiman Marcus, Robinsons, Bullocks Wilshire, and Fred Hayman Beverly Hills. Following his retirement from retail, he pursued graduate studies in counseling psychology, earning an M.Ed. and entering the Ph.D. program at the University of Southern California, with a focus on mental health, loss, and grief counseling. His professional endeavors included work in hospice care and facilitation of bereavement support groups with individual and couples counseling sessions.

Michael has worked with individuals affected by addiction. In addition to counseling, he conducted pre-sentencing evaluations and prepared sentencing recommendations for the courts. Additionally, he worked with Health in Aging where he prepared legal and medical documentation and compiled court reports, specializing in elder abuse cases in senior care facilities.

Michael met his husband, Jim Hehn, in Palm Springs in 2000. The couple married in 2008 and are proud to call Rancho Mirage home, regarding it as one of the finest cities in the nation.