Professor Mike Thomas

Professor Mike Thomas joined the Board in December 2022, he is an experienced academic and clinician.

Throughout Mike’s 40-year career in academia and the health sector, he has held a significant number of leadership roles including Vice Chancellor and held various Professorial Chairs across four universities.

During his career, Mike has carried out clinical research to enhance mental health support for individuals who experience severe and enduring eating disorders whilst, simultaneously, over the last fifteen years he has been working with research colleagues across the UK investigating issues that impact on compassionate leadership in both the public and private sectors.

He has written three books and numerous articles and chapters on these two subjects. He remains research active and a practising clinical psychotherapist.

More recently he has been providing an advisory service to public and commercial sector organisations supporting staff engagement projects, cultural change programmes and strategies for enhancing good governance. He is currently the Chair of the Board for University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Trust.

Mike is committed to the voluntary, charity and public sector and has been continuously involved in charitable work for his whole working life. He is currently serving on the Lancashire County Council Veterans board and the College for Military Veterans and the Emergency Services which he co-founded.

Prior to entering academia, he served in the Royal Navy, working for five years in HM Submarines before employment in the engineering sector and then qualifying as a mental health nurse and later a psychological therapist.