Michael Wilson
Boards and investor audiences need someone who can hold a room together when the agenda spans monetary policy, market shocks and corporate strategy in the same hour. Most chairs either know the finance and cannot move an audience, or run a slick stage and lean on the speakers to carry the substance. The gap is a moderator who can read a balance sheet, interview a chancellor, and keep a thousand-person dinner audience engaged at the same level.
Michael Wilson is a business and economics broadcaster who chairs, moderates and hosts corporate, investor and after-dinner events on markets, monetary policy and the City.
Full Profile
Why organisations work with Michael Wilson
- He has interviewed chancellors, central bank governors, FTSE chief executives and finance ministers on live television for more than three decades, which is the exact skill set a panel on macro policy or market structure needs in the chair.
- He was a founder of Sky News in 1989 and built its business unit from scratch, which gives him an operator’s read on how a story moves between newsroom, market and boardroom.
- He co-authored Fixing Britain: The Business of Reshaping Our Nation with Lord Digby Jones, so he can speak with authority on UK industrial policy, productivity and reform rather than only commenting on it.
- The World Economic Forum named him Business Broadcaster of the Year, recognition that travels well with international investor and corporate audiences.
- Inside FTSE 100 and 250 boards he has worked as a media coach and mentor, which means a moderating brief comes with an instinct for what a CEO will say, will not say, and needs help saying.
Biography highlights
- Founder member of Sky Television, 1989, and creator of the channel’s business unit.
- Business Editor of Sky News for around twenty years, anchoring Budget specials and major financial events through to 2009.
- Co-author with Lord Digby Jones of Fixing Britain: The Business of Reshaping Our Nation (Wiley, 2011).
- Voted Business Broadcaster of the Year by the World Economic Forum.
- Made a Freeman of the City of London in 2006.
- Visiting Fellow at Cranfield School of Management; currently Director of Business and Economics Editor at Arise News with regular commentary on GB News.
Biography
Sky News did not have a business unit when it launched in 1989. Michael Wilson built it. As a founder member of the channel, he set up the desk, the contact book and the editorial line that turned Sky into a credible voice on markets, the City and the British economy through the Lawson boom, the ERM crisis and the long period of growth that followed.
He stayed for two decades as Business Editor, anchoring Budgets, rate decisions and the financial reporting cycle from the floor of the exchange to the steps of the Treasury. Before Sky he worked at Thames Television and helped found The City Programme in 1987. Since 2009 he has broadcast across BBC, ITV, Fox News, Al Jazeera and LBC, and he now serves as Director of Business and Economics Editor at Arise News with regular commentary slots on GB News.
His authority on the substance, not only the craft, is documented. He co-wrote Fixing Britain: The Business of Reshaping Our Nation with Lord Digby Jones, published by Wiley in 2011, an argument for industrial reform rooted in conversations with British business leaders. He holds a Visiting Fellowship at Cranfield School of Management and was made a Freeman of the City of London in 2006.
What corporate buyers tend to commission is the chairing and hosting work that sits on top of all this. He has run media training and mentoring inside FTSE 100 and 250 companies for years, which is why he can move between a serious investor Q and A, a panel of finance ministers, and a thousand-person black-tie audience without changing register, and bring each one back on time.
Key speaking topics
- Business and economics broadcasting craft
- UK economic policy and the City
- Financial markets and monetary policy
- Corporate communications and media performance
- Conference moderation and on-stage interviewing
- After-dinner business commentary
- Industrial policy and productivity reform
Ideal for
- Annual conferences, investor days and corporate AGMs that need a chair across macro, markets and corporate strategy.
- CEO and CFO communications teams looking for media coaching from a working broadcaster.
- Financial services and City audiences at flagship events, awards dinners and member functions.
- International investor and policy audiences where a recognised business broadcaster adds credibility to the chair.
Audience outcomes
- A live read on the day’s market and policy news from someone who has spent decades interpreting it on air.
- A chairing performance that keeps panels on time, on subject and audible to a non-specialist room.
- A working briefing on how the City, the Treasury and the broadcast newsroom interact.
- A grounded view of UK industrial policy and reform drawn from his book with Lord Digby Jones.
- An after-dinner perspective that treats markets and economics as stories, not slides.