ichael trained at the Royal Aircraft Establishment and Royal College of Advanced Technology, Farnborough, U.K, where he completed a degree in Mechanical Engineering (Aeronautical). He then joined the staff of Physics and Metallurgy Dept. of the R.A.E. as a Research & Development Engineer.
Having traveled to Australia Michael joined Australian General Electric as a Mechanical Engineer, eventually becoming the Chief Design Engineer for the company, responsible for the research, design and development of all Australian made products, one receiving the Duke of Edinburgh Award for Good Design. He was also on the Design Council's Board of Judges.
He founded Alpha Research & Development (Australia) Pty. Ltd in 1974, and designed and developed a unique craft for high speed surface and underwater operation and was contracted by the Royal Australian Navy to carry out R&D to achieve the specific requirements of both Clearance Diving and Collins Class projects. His design was chosen after a world-wide search for such a craft.
At this time he became one of the first consultants in R&D Incentives, and was a member of the Government's Industry, Research and Development Board's Consultative Group. He also assisted in pioneering the electronic lodgment system.
As a result of this he developed the 'ADOES®' system (Auto-prompted Data-collection On Encrypted Server) to make the recording of R&D costs simple, efficient and contemporaneous.