Mike was born in Invercargill and completed his schooling there. He joined State Insurance direct from school and spent 36 years with the company, transferring around the country (to Wellington, Nelson, Oamaru, New Plymouth and Greymouth) in various management roles before ultimately being appointed to the company’s head office in Wellington, where he led a number of major projects, including the development of a bespoke IT general insurance information system.
Mike subsequently established his own home loan and insurance business in the Hutt and has been involved in that business for the past 20 years. He has helped mentor 8 of his consultants to establish their own separate businesses throughout the Wellington and Kapiti areas. He has been an active property investor and has helped many of his clients become investors in turn (including his own family) over the past 20 years. Mike’s chosen sports were rugby and softball. He represented 7 provinces at softball as a player, coach and administrator over a 30 year period. He is an active golfer and is a member of both the Boulcott and Waikanae clubs. Mike is a member of Probus and a keen music enthusiast. Mike is an Associate of the NZ and Australian Insurance Institutes, holds a business management diploma, and qualified as an Associate of the NZ Institute of Management. He is currently a registered financial adviser. Mike is married to Jenny and has 3 children, 8 grand-children, and 5 great grand-children.