The Man Asking
for Your Vote
Michael R. Olegario, PGM, 33°, is a Past Monarch of Bendemeer Grotto and a Past Grand Master of Masons in Arkansas. Seventeen years in, he is still doing the same thing he started out doing: showing up.
He was raised at Jacinto Lodge No. 126 and has never really left. He presided over that Lodge as Master in 2012, and today he sits at its Secretary’s desk, a chair nobody takes for the glory of it. In between came the Grotto, the York Rite, the Scottish Rite, the National Sojourners, and in 2025 the highest office the Brothers of Arkansas can hand a man.
He does this with his family behind him: his wife Therese, and their two kids, Mikee and Josh. He will tell you the Grotto gave him the memories and the friendships, and that the service the Grottoes do for children is the part he will not let slip.
Leadership through service is not a slogan he picked up for this campaign. It is how he has carried every office he has held, for seventeen years, and it is why the Brothers who knew his work kept putting him in the chair.
Led an Entire Jurisdiction
Grand Master of Masons in Arkansas, 2025, the highest office his Brothers can give. A full year of officers, budgets, calendars, and the problems that arrive without warning. The Supreme Council is the same job at a different scale.
Trusted in Every Body
33° Inspector General Honorary. Past High Priest and Past Commander. President of the Arkansas National Sojourners. A seat on the George Washington Masonic National Memorial board. Prophets and Masons across the country already take his call.
Builds What Outlasts Him
From District Deputy to Grand Master, he built the systems and trained the officers who came after him. Good ideas die when nobody writes them down, and every Grotto pays for it later.
Carries the Mission
Past Monarch of Bendemeer, Toothbrush Committee Chair, Fundraiser Committee. He has raised the money for the dental care our Grottoes give children with special needs, not just spoken about it.
Why he is running
Every Grotto is fighting the same three things: membership, keeping younger Prophets around, and questions about money. Michael’s argument is that the answers already exist, scattered across Grottoes that solved them alone and never got the chance to say so. Getting those Grottoes talking, and writing down what works, is the job he is asking for.
That is what the three promises come down to. Show up at the Grottoes and the regional associations, not only at Session. Connect the ones facing the same struggles. Document the good ideas so the next Grotto does not start from zero.