Mike qualified as a Chartered Accountant in South Africa and, after completing articles at Deloitte and compulsory conscription at the local tax office, worked as a tax consultant with an international professional consulting practice. He then moved into financial services where he undertook a wide variety of roles at several firms in both Johannesburg and London over more than 20 years. He has since spent time in the service-related SME sector, adding value by employing skills and experience obtained in his career to date. 

He is flexible and a resilient self-starter, working well either alone or as an effective team player. He is a goal-driven individual, action-orientated with a can-do attitude and a fine eye for detail. 

Throughout his career as a Senior Finance Leader and Transformation Expert, he has: 

• Assisted management on the buy-side of an MBO of a financial services firm, providing support with structuring and negotiating for financial close of a successful transaction. 

• Built a comprehensive management reporting tool for an accounting professional service group so its owners could understand and improve the professional staff’s productivity and chargeability. 

• Constructed and formulated a financial forecasting & costing model for a business services firm to map in financial terms the route to owners’ strategic objectives, and to perform scenario analysis to understand the cash impact of various new initiatives including weaning off invoice finance. 

• Built a financial forecasting model for a financial services firm to articulate how it would achieve the exit ambitions of the owners, highlighting areas to increase profitability and managing cashflows. 

• Developed a management information system for a legal professional firm to provide business intelligence on operations of the business and to cascade KPIs for staff members’ performances to be assessed against. 

• Implemented technology solutions to assist a legal professional services firm to monitor and control credit risks in its customer base. 

• Developed a triennial operating budget for a financial services firm to monitor operating and financial performance against their agreed action plan. 

• Deployed a rigorous management reporting pack for directors’ monthly meetings showing performance against their plan, KPIs and cash management. 

• Designed an innovative incentive scheme for a legal professional services firm to recognise and attribute value added by functional teams and high-performing individuals within each team. 

• Mapped business processes for an international financial services firm in order to improve quality of workflow, remove waste, lower costs and reduce risk. 

• Structured and implemented an innovative funding solution for a client’s growth ambitions. 

• Prepared cash flow analyses and a restructured funding package for an underfunded multi-national services company. 

• Built a detailed financial model to undertake dynamic sensitivity analyses of cash flow projections. 

• Installed a Process Management System measuring workflow performance and monitoring KPIs. 

• Business Partnering
• Management Reporting
• Budgeting Planning & Monitoring
• Financial Forecasting
• Risk Management
• KPI Dashboard Leveraged and Acquisition Finance
• Cashflow
• Treasury Management 

1. Banking
2. Business Services
3. Charity, Education
4. Financial Services
5. Foreign Exchange Services
6. IT
7. Legal & Regulatory
8. Media
9. Professional Services

A keen sports enthusiast, Mike enjoys watching everything from high-speed events like Formula 1, NFL, SailGP, alpine skiing, and professional road cycling to more traditional sports such as rugby, golf, tennis, and cricket.

Beyond spectating, he stays active by participating in sports virtually, such as cycling on routes around the world using a smart bike trainer with the Rouvy app, and taking part in sim racing on Gran Turismo 7 (without any expectation of emulating Jann Mardenborough, who inspired the Gran Turismo movie!). He also enjoys spending time outdoors, particularly hiking or mountain biking through wooded trails and natural landscapes.

Mike has a passion for driving high-performance cars and takes every opportunity to get behind the wheel when he can. If there is any time left over, he enjoys doing DIY projects and gardening.