Sir Michael is Chair of Phoenix Global Resources plc, Majid Al Futtaim Holdings LLC (UAE), Wireless Logic Ltd, NewDay Ltd, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and Emergex Vaccines Holdings Ltd. He is also a Senior Adviser to Citigroup, Vice President of the RNIB, a Director of Trust Payments Ltd and Non-Executive Director at Frontier IP Group plc.

In addition to holding advisory positions in a number of major US, UK and European companies, he has previously been a Senior Adviser to Chatham House, a member of the University of Oxford’s global Board for business reputation and a William Pitt Fellow at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He was also the first ever Chair of the Commission for Employment and Skills and the first ever Chair of the Private Equity Oversight Group Guidelines Monitoring Committee.

Sir Michael qualified as a chartered accountant in the UK in 1972, became a partner with Peat Marwick (KPMG) continental firm in Brussels in 1979, subsequently becoming Senior Partner of Peat Marwick (KPMG) Middle East in 1986, the UK firm in 1998, the European firm in 1999 and the global firm in 2002, until he retired from the company in 2007 to become Chair of BT Group plc.

Sir Michael was knighted for services to accountancy in 2007. In 2013, he received the Channing Award for Corporate Citizenship, was voted FTSE100 NonExecutive Director of the Year, and also received the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award.

In 2011, Sir Michael received the British American Business UK Transatlantic Business Award in recognition of outstanding business leadership.