About

I'm a passionate Tech for Good digital leader with a keen interest in organisations and projects that have positive health and social purposes. I co-founded Ayup Digital in 2015, a Tech for Good digital product studio based in Leeds who work with local governments, NHS trusts, Universities and the charity sector, creating digital products and services focused on co-production and human-centered-design principles.

Outside of the technology sector, I have founded several not-for-profit organisations and community groups. Having volunteered at Manchester Pride for a number of years, I ultimately became a trustee and vice-chair of the charity. In 2015 I co-founded Happy Valley Pride - Hebden Bridge’s first LGBTQ+ pride festival which is now in its fifth year and continues to grow year on year with national coverage and attendees. I also served as IT Director at TEDxSalford for a number of years and regularly work with schools, colleges and universities guest lecturing, mentoring students and running workshops.

Qualifications & kitemarks

  • Manchester Metropolitan University
    Bsc (Hons) Computer Science, First-class honours
  • The Institute of Leadership & Management
    Advanced Mgmt Skills - Level 5
  • Government Digital Services (GDS)
    Digital & agile awareness
  • DBS Enhanced checked
  • Amazon Web Services
    Solutions Architect Associate
  • Mental Health First Aid England
    Adult Mental Health First Aid
  • IBITGQ
    EU GDPR Regulations
  • Google
    Google Analytics IQ
  • Qualsafe
    Emergency First Aid at Work

“Mike is a brilliant crossroads where sensitivity and empathy meet knowledge and excellence. His pragmatism allows him to plan projects and events ensuring timely deliveries, but his attitude of “we’re all in this together” always creates the right atmosphere for a happy team to be on the same page and doing something we’re all proud of.”

— Clara Parada

Six core values guide me in everything I do:

1. Do good in the world

The world needs more socially driven organisations, businesses and people. When you use technology for good, it has the incredible potential to change the world, improve people's lives and bring people and communities together. That’s why I've committed to supporting the 1% for the planet movement, run the Tech for Good Leeds events and get heavily involved in local community projects and organisations.

2. Keep people at the heart of everything

Users, stakeholders, beneficiaries or simply put, people. By designing digital services with people at the heart and enlisting human-centered design techniques, we’ll design services, products that work for everyone and will be on the right track to create technology that gets embraced and adopted, solves real problems and delivers measurable positive impact.

3. Be open by default

Being open minded and maintaining a sense of curiosity allows us to learn something new and expand our knowledge. Embracing working in the open, makes collaboration with people easier and enables others to learn. Contributing to the open source movement allows us to reuse technology and for others to benefit from our work and reduce duplication efforts.

4. Be inclusive

Digital services need to work for everyone, it’s a basic right. Being inclusive is baked into everything I do from the beginning. It means I will involve and understand users with a range of different needs and be considering digital literacy, device usage, language, accessibility requirements as well as thinking about non digital interactions.

5. Impact driven

Creating a shared sense of purpose about the positive impact of our work drives me throughout, even if that’s just impacting one person's life - it’s what keeps me focused and proud. Setting out from the start, what our measurements for success are and how we can track impact is vital in ensuring sustainability and yielding good ROI.

6. Be advocates

I'm passionate about making the world a better place and I believe that can't happen on a traditional “client/agency” model. I become an advocate and champion for your organisation, mission and project - an extension of your team. We’re in this for long-term relationships and making a difference, not sales transactions.