Mr Michel Driessen

Michel Driessen is a Chairman, Board Member and Business Advisor with a focus on guiding companies and institutions through growth, restructuring, and value creation and on building businesses and supporting leadership teams as they navigate complex strategic journeys.

Michel is the Chair of Queen's Tower Advisory, a deal advisory firm focused on providing financial transaction advice throughout the deal lifecycle for Private Capital enabled by AI and Technology.

In addition, Michel is a Sufficiently Independent Director of UK Power Networks, being a member of the Audit and ESG Committees.

Beyond the boardroom, Michel contributes to academia and thought leadership. He is the Deputy Chair and Director of the M&A Research Centre at Bayes Business School and Professor in Practice in Finance at Bayes Business School, and a Visiting Lecturer for the module Creating Value from ESG in Transactions.

Michel has co-authored three business books: Why Deals Fail and How to Rescue Them (The Economist, 2016) and The Deal Paradox (Kogan Page, 2023), both exploring the intricacies of successful deal-making. His third business book Green Gold: How Sustainability Creates Deal Value (Wiley, 2026) focuses on creating financial value through sustainability in transactions and will be published mid February 2026.

Michel is passionate about Art and serves as a Trustee of Turner Contemporary in Margate, supporting initiatives that broaden access to the arts and cultural engagement and as Trustee of the Gallery Climate Coalition focused on initiatives in the arts sector to reduce the sector's environmental impacts.

Previously, Michel served as a Senior Partner at EY's Strategy and Transactions (SaT) business, where he led the Consumer Products and Retail Market segment—scaling the team to 100 professionals and doubling revenues within three years. He also founded and led EY's Operational Transaction Services practice, growing it from 21 to over 200 people and doubling revenues every two years across nearly a decade. He is specialised in Operational Due Diligence, Synergy Assessment, Integration and Carve-outs, and Restructuring for both corporate and private equity clients.