Mike is an award-winning financial and commercial director and qualified chartered accountant with a passion for commercial activities, shareholder growth, and embracing technology to gain a competitive edge.
Hospitality is in Mike’s blood. His grandfather was a top chef and Mike got the hospitality bug when he joined Harbour Hotels and ignited a record-breaking growth spell that included tripling the size and quadrupling the EBITDA of the boutique hotel chain.
Since then, Mike steered a performance turnaround at the Ageas Bowl and spearheaded significant cost reductions and remarkable growth for Luxury Family Hotels and Greenclose Hotels.
What do you do at Rockingham?
I’m the co-founder with Simon. We’re hands-on and passionate so we spend countless hours challenging each other to drive hotels forward. It’s really cool because we have different strengths that complement each other really well. I just love the creativity we’re able to come up with and whilst hospitality is a tough business, I get a real kick out of it and what we can do.
What’s your career highlight to date?
In 2020 I was recognised as the top performing finance director for my role at The Ageas Bowl and I think that reflected what the team there had done against the odds. When I joined we were scratching around each month to make payroll, it was a really anxious time, but we knuckled down, turned around the performance of the hotel, overcame numerous setbacks and came out of it with a decent bank balance and a strategic plan that delivered value. People started to sit up and take notice. Once we were the underdog but not any more.
When did you fall in love with hospitality?
Firstly my grandad was a top chef, he even taught Mary Berry back in her early days. He was a wonderfully kind and gentle man and whilst I sadly didn’t inherit his skills (as Simon will confirm, my omelette failure being a key example) I did inherit a love for hospitality, food and beverage. The second element is Harbour Hotels. I worked alongside the Chairman (Nick Roach) and MD (Mike Warren) and we created an incredible hotel group in a short space of time. It was probably the most demanding and challenging period of my career, but I couldn’t get enough of it and it ignited the passion I had for the industry.