Mike has held some of the most senior leadership roles in the three largest UK Departments of State.
Most recently he was Chief Operating Officer at the Ministry of Defence, an organisation of 230,000 military and civilian colleagues with an annual spend of £60 billion. Joining the Ministry of Defence in 2019 as Director for Transformation, Mike established a defence-wide Transformation Programme designed to achieve efficiencies of up to £12 billion.
In the Department for Work & Pensions he led as many as 25,000 colleagues designing and delivering welfare delivery and reform. And in Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs was Director for Personal Tax Operations, leading c20,000 colleagues to deliver services to over 50 million customers whilst harnessing leading edge technology to radically change delivery channels.
Having been Chairman of a charity, a Non-Executive Board member in each of the four UK Military Services, in April 2022, he joined Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust. Mike is also a Senior Advisor to Oliver Wyman supporting and growing their Government and Public Institutions practice. In 2024 Mike was made Professor of Practice at the University of York.
Mike has deep knowledge and experience of leading Operational Delivery, Transformation and cultural change in large, complex businesses and environments.
Mike is a member of the Finance & Performance Committee and also the Workforce Committee.
Read more about the role of Senior Independent Director and the responsibilities involved (13kB)