Michael Mainelli

Michael co-founded Z/Yen, the City of London's leading commercial think-tank and venture firm, in 1994 to promote societal advance through better finance and technology. His first degree was in government from Harvard, followed by mathematics and engineering studies at Trinity College Dublin and a PhD from the London School of Economics in chaotic systems, where he was also Visiting Professor. Michael's early scientific research in aerospace and computer graphics led to him starting Swiss companies in seismology, cartography and energy information, including the first complete digital map of the world in 1983, Mundocart. Michael's other roles have included several years as a partner and board member of one of the leading accountancy firms directing financial services and technology work globally, and as Corporate Development Director of the UK Ministry of Defence's 14,000 employee Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, responsible for commercialising technology. A qualified accountant, securities professional, computer specialist and management consultant, Michael won a 1996 UK Foresight Challenge award for the Financial Laboratory and a 2003 UK Smart Award for prediction software, was British Computer Society Director of the Year in 2005, and was designated a Gentiluomo of the Associazione Cavalieri di San Silvestro in 2011. Michael is Emeritus Professor, Trustee and Fellow of Gresham College. He created and remains Principal Advisor to Long Finance, a movement addressing the question "when would we know our financial system is working?", sponsored by Gresham College, the City of London Corporation and Z/Yen Group, among others. He created the renowned Global Financial Centres Index as well as the Global Intellectual Property Index. He serves as a non-executive director of UKAS - the United Kingdom Accreditation Service, a non-executive director of Wishbone Gold plc, an Alderman of the City of London Corporation, an Almoner of Christs Hospital - the charitable boarding school, and a council member of City & Guilds - the global vocational education standard. Michael has published over 40 journal articles, 150 commercial articles and four books. Michael's Sunday Times Book of the Week risk/reward management novel, Clean Business Cuisine: Now and Z/Yen, written with Ian Harris, was published in 2000; Accountancy Age described it as "surprisingly funny considering it is written by a couple of accountants". His third book, based on his Gresham College lecture series from 2005 to 2009, also co-authored with Ian Harris, The Price of Fish: A New Approach to Wicked Economics and Better Decisions, won the 2012 Independent Publisher Book Awards Finance, Investment & Economics Gold Prize. Michael plays bagpipes from time to time, is a keen sailor and skier, and is restoring the Thames Sailing Barge Lady Daphne with his wife Elisabeth. He speaks English, German, Italian and French poorly, but much worse Spanish and Chinese.