Professor Michael Mainelli

Professor Michael Mainelli is Emeritus Mercers' School Memorial Professor of Commerce at Gresham College, having held this Professorship between 2005 and 2009. Professor Mainelli is Executive Chairman of Z/Yen, a City-based risk/reward firm, where he works on strategy, technology, finance and business development.
His early research was in aerospace and computer graphics, which led to work in seismology, cartography and energy information. He spent seven years as a partner and board member of an accountancy firm directing their financial services consultancy work in the UK and overseas, followed by a position as Corporate Development Director of the MoD’s Defence Evaluation and Research Agency. From November 1995 to July 1997 Dr Mainelli was Chief Scientist of the Financial Laboratory, a DTI project undertaking research into the visualisation of financial risk. Professor Mainelli is a qualified accountant, computer specialist and management consultant with a degree from Harvard in government with economics, plus a further year of mathematics and engineering at Trinity College Dublin and a PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London.
The over-arching theme of Professor Mainelli’s programme at Gresham College is “Society’s Commercial Choice - Risks and Rewards of Markets”. The emphasis is on the proper functioning of markets in realising societal goals, and the obligation on society to try and use market forces wherever suitable, as opposed to unnecessary regulation, hidden subsidy or inappropriate taxation.

To access all of Professor Mainelli's previous Gresham College lectures, please click here.