Michael Byrne was born in Liverpool in 1957.   He studied Accountancy, Economics and Commercial Law at Liverpool John Moores University, and is a Fellow of the Association of International Accountants.

His entire working life from 1978 has been spent in the Midlands. After seven years in accounting and finance functions within a large hotel, brewing and pub chain, he joined an enterprise agency in Birmingham.  He became a business adviser specialising in small business finance.

In 1992 he developed a management consultancy business of his own. In 1995 he joined Business Link in Birmingham managing grant and loan schemes for new businesses, and in 1998 he became head of enterprise operations, overseeing the business support services throughout Birmingham and Solihull, and later became Chairman of ‘Arrow’ small business loan fund.

From 2003 to 2006 he managed the Birmingham and Solihull Economic Development Forum, which brought together public and private sector organisations involved in regeneration and economic planning.

Since 2006 he has worked with business ‘start-ups’ as a senior business adviser for Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, working with new businesses throughout the West Midlands on finance and marketing issues.  He has been a member of the IED since 2004, and with several other members re-established the Midlands branch in 2007 becoming Branch Chairman.