Mike was born and bred in Chester and currently lives in Tarvin, Cheshire. He is married with two grown up children.

Mike trained with a national firm and qualified as a chartered accountant in 1973. After becoming a manager he moved to a smaller local practice in Chester and became a partner in 1986. Shortly afterwards he became a partner in a multinational practice but in 1989 left that practice to co-found McLintocks on Chester Business Park together with John McLintock.

Since then McLintocks has grown into a highly respected local firm and now has 9 directors, offices in Chester, Wrexham and Birkenhead together with some 50 staff.

Mike is a registered statutory auditor and is finance director and audit compliance director of the firm. His audit experience is vast and he has been involved in audits of every conceivable size and type, particularly in group accounts, education and the charity sector. Apart from controlling external audits, Mike has been head of internal audit for prestigious educational enterprises and also Responsible Officer for a number of academy schools. He is currently audit committee chairman of a major national business organisation. In addition to his audit and risk management knowledge, Mike is experienced in all aspects of accounting, taxation and financial matters generally.

One of his main interests is wine .He is involved in a small internet wine company and travels to Italy regularly to taste some wine and see family and vineyards. He has very keen interest in sport, mainly soccer, rugby and cricket and he plays golf when he can and particularly enjoys playing abroad in the sun.

In May 2013 Mike became chairman of the Chester & North Wales Society of Chartered Accountants.