Dr Michael Smith
Leaving Colfe’s School in 1962 at the age of 16, Michael was commissioned into the Royal Air Force seven years later as a professional entrant, having in the meantime gained an HND in Business Studies whilst earning his living as a rock and jazz drummer, and working with young people in the East End of London via the Air Training Corps. Thereafter, he undertook a diversity of appointments which included being a senior executive in the field with responsibility for 3,000 people; and a tutor at both the RAF College and the RAF Staff College, the latter of which he is an Advanced Staff Course graduate.
As a military Legal, Finance and HR Director some of his more unusual professional involvement included alcoholism, blackmail, cryptography, drug addiction, espionage, extreme violence, family bereavement, fraud, infant mortality, rape, state honours & awards, suicide and terminal illness. Michael has chaired or advised many Boards of Inquiry into fatal accidents and serious incidents, and sat as a member of over 30 Courts Martial.
Deciding to leave the Military after only 20 years, having been tempted into management consultancy, his Service career culminated as an adviser to the UK Deputy Chief of Defence Staffs and appropriate Ministers on personnel and financial issues for 330,000 regular & reserve military personnel, plus the senior Civil Service, the senior Judiciary and NHS Consultants.
Michael commenced his business career with P-E International where he worked with company Boards across many UK industry sectors. In 1993 he founded Griffonage specialising in executive & NED search, adding coaching in 2006. Focusing on aerospace, defence and Formula 1/Le Mans motorsport he conducted over 10,000 hours of interviewing, coaching, facilitation and consultancy at Board and senior executive level, primarily in the UK and USA, but also in Continental Europe, China and Singapore. Typical clients ranged from such SMEs as Cosworth, Lola and Quadrics Supercomputers, through large companies such as Cobham, GKN, Jaguar F1 and Serco, to global corporations such as CAE, Raytheon and Rolls-Royce.
Realising the value of Griffonage in 2012, he undertook a period as a Visiting Professor. At the same time, for two years he was a mentor to a senior member of the Royal Household via the IOD programme ‘Develop a Director’. Then, in 2015, with three senior international directors, he embarked on a business venture entitled Experience Tells Ltd working with the Boards of SMEs to large companies in the manufacturing and service sectors, especially those concerned with aerospace & defence. He is now retired from fee-paying business.
In anticipation of that retirement, in 2019 Michael commenced the creation and development of a UK-wide youth engagement programme the aim of which was, and remains, to encourage the interest of young people in technology generally and, specifically, provide them with a permanent careers advisory and support service in respect of the aerospace, space and aviation industries. Michael converted the programme into a charity (#1190721) in 2020 which, in 2023, was re-named ‘The Schools’ Aerospace Careers Programme’; he is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees.
Michael holds a Professional Doctorate in Senior Executive Coaching & Team Learning, and an MA in Business Coaching. Until its disbandment in 2016, Michael was a member of the Court of Cranfield University for seven years, and is an alumnus of three additional universities. In addition, he is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce; and for over 25 years a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development, and the Chartered Institute of Management. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Directors.
Additionally, he is a Liveryman (and therefore Freeman) of the City of London, and the 2018/19 Master of the City Livery Company – The Fan Makers. He remains a member of the company’s Court. He is a member of the RAF Club and, for 20 years, a member of the Honourable Artillery Company and the Worshipful Company of Coachmakers. He was the initiator of the affiliation of the City of London with II (AC) Squadron RAF of which he is an Honorary Member. For a set three-year term Michael was a Trustee of three City-based charitable funds. He is a guest speaker with Speakers for Schools.
Alongside his professional life Michael has, since his late 20’s until his early 70’s, organised and managed a host of ‘events’ ranging from public Air Shows to City of London Mansion House Banquets and Royal events. Such experiences and expertise gained are now solely directed towards ACP Presentations and Network events.
Like his professional life, Michael’s private interests are quite eclectic and include popular science, period detective fiction, opera and classical music, current affairs and geopolitics, palaeontology, cosmology, political and military history. Living in Hampshire and married to Jennifer, they have two children, three grandchildren and a classic convertible Jaguar.