Mike has a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Manchester and an MBA from the Manchester Business School. He began his career with Dow in 1968 and became President and Chief Executive Officer of The Dow Chemical Company in Midland, Michigan, USA (2000-2002) and a member of the company's Board of Directors (1995-2003).

Mike has been the Group Chief Executive of BNFL since August 2003, is a Non Executive Director of Invensys plc and is Chairman of Liverpool Vision.