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Mike Guillaume

Professional

1999 - Onwards: Co-founder and manager of e.com-ReportWatch, a company that specializes in report assessment and benchmarking, headquartered in Delaware, U.S. with its head office in London, UK. He has reviewed thousands of reports to investors and stakeholders, and has consulted for more than one hundred and thirty international blue chips and listed corporations (from Sweden to Canada to Hong Kong to Japan). The firm is well known for its “Annual Report on Annual Reports” (www.reportwatch.net).

1987 - 1999: Managing then Executive Director of the Enterprise Group, a consultancy focused on strategic, financial and marketing planning services for growing enterprises. The company was based in Brussels (and also later had an office in Texas) and was involved in many transnational programs (e.g. between European regions such as Catalonia, North of France, Scotland, and extensively in South-East Asia. For the latter, managed the European part of a Euro-Asean business cooperation program to promote the use of cogeneration and renewable energies). In the 90s, the group added a financial communication unit to its business and worked on annual reports in the financial sector (the unit was spun off as e.com in 1999 after the group had defaulted). From 1993 through 1997: Supervised the annual report of a large Benelux bank.

1981 - 1987: Co-founded a non-profit association (a “management boutique”) to help startups and SMEs (as well as buyouts and spinoffs) prepare their business and financial plans, raise equity, get loans and find partners.

1980 - 1981: Junior Consultant at Alexander Proudfoot Corporation (Chicago-Paris-Brussels). Learned American management practices and participated in various restructuring missions in the cement, steel, tobacco, food and other industries in a few areas.

Publications - seminars - articles - academics

- “The Seven Deadly Sins of Capitalism” (self-published book, 2009), published simultaneously with the launch of www.mikeconomics.net website, where some of his articles about economics and other issues may be found.

- Editor of the “Annual Report on Annual Reports”, often regarded as the most authoritative global survey on annual reports (published by e.com-ReportWatch) since 1997. Besides report scoring, has written articles on “Corporate substance and relevance”, “How are financials reported?”, “The rise and fall of American reports”, “The case against quarterly profit warnings”, et al. (some available on http://www.reportwatch.net/report-essentials/)

- “Competing in the Asian Energy Markets – Financial Conditions” (research published in 1996 within the EU-ASEAN Cogen Programme).

- Professor and program manager of international strategy and innovation at St. Louis Business School (Brussels) (1989-1994).

- Contributed monthly articles on strategic and financial management and international economics for a banking magazine (1988-1994).

- “L’Entreprise en Compétition” (“The competing company”) (book, Quorum, 1993).

- Regular OECD consultant on entrepreneurship and local employment initiatives in the 80s.

- “Partager le Travail” (“Labor-sharing policies”) (Preface by Michel Rocard) (book, PUF, 1983).

- Research assistant in macroeconomics at the University of Mons-Hainaut (1981-1983).

- Participation in seminars, workshops, roundtables in Britain, Netherlands, Belgium, France, U.S., Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines...

Education

1987: Training on innovation and technology transfer (TII, Luxembourg-London-Barcelona).

1982-1983: Special trainings on financial (and risk) analysis and management (classes by financial institutions’ specialists).

1978-1979: Master in international economics (European economics and politics) (IEE - IES, Brussels).

1974-1978: Graduate in political science and international relations (ULB, Brussels).

1967-1974: Secondary school with a degree in economics (ARG, Gosselies, Belgium).

Personal

Born in Charleroi (Wallonia, Belgium) (1955), Mike (aka Michel pour les francophones, Michael in Deutschland und Österreich, or Miguel en Espanol) has lived, worked and consulted in twenty-five countries on four continents, where he has “a few adopted areas” and has picked “various lifestyle and working features.” Mike defines himself as a cosmopolitan with a mix of Walloon roots (Wallonia is part of Belgium, “which is very much an artificial state and an accident of history”) and Anglo-Saxon culture -made of “an odd mix of a strong U.S. management background and big time -all meanings- spent in Britain, especially in London.” Tracing his lines of descent from two French great-grandmothers -“Guillaume is a Norman name, and also the one of the winner of the battle of Hastings in 1066, who became the first Norman king of England”- with some family and business ties in North America, and many friends and connections in many places, he now shares his time between London, a former Roman village, and a few other international cities. He speaks English, French, Dutch, Spanish and German, and “wouldn’t mind learning other languages when I find some time.” After having played football and tennis in previous lives, his hobbies now include reading, traveling, hiking, biking, watching movies, and "listening to and playing as much music as possible."