Mike has spent most of his life working out what makes people tick, figuring out what they want and why.

Nelson born and bred, Mike learned at school that ‘intelligence’ isn’t unique to those chasing traditional career avenues expected from Excellence students.

After obtaining his Diploma of Fine Arts Preliminary, he moved on to study Law at Canterbury and Victoria Universities.

He didn’t finish his Law degree; he did, however, achieve a milestone when he broke the World Rocking Chair record.

Mike discovered advertising by accident and went on to win the Trenchard-Smith Trophy for highest marks in Australia and New Zealand in the Advertising Institute Examinations, and the Reader’s Digest Scholarship for New Zealand’s Outstanding Your Advertising man.

He is a director of a number of companies public and private, a business adviser and an Adjunct Professor at Auckland University of Technology, developing an online Innovation programme. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and holds a Master of Philosophy degree (with 1st Class Honours). In 2022 he was inducted into the Marketing Hall of Fame. His thesis was on the alchemy of innovation in New Zealand business.