Michael Cooper qualified as a chartered accountant with Price Waterhouse (now PwC) in London, where he worked in audit and tax, before joining the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, where he was a Senior Civil Servant in a variety of policy, finance, and programme management roles. He was Finance Director of a large executive agency and head of the department’s Grants Hub, overseeing the department’s £3 billion p.a. grants portfolio. He has also served as President of the Thames Valley Society of Chartered Accountants and Vice President (Finance) and Trustee of BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT. Michael is now a non-executive director and trustee of several charities. He is a freeman of the City of London, Senior Assistant of the Worshipful Company of Plumbers, and Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Parish Clerks. He was awarded an OBE for public service. He is co-founder of the Reading Tech Cluster.