Michael Lorrigan

B.A. (Hons), PGCE, AMIPR
Managing Director, Spearhead Training, UAE

Michael is a U.K. national, with over twenty five years experience in training, sales, P.R., management consultancy and education. He began his working career in education in the U.K. and Kuwait. Following two years teaching in Scotland he moved to Kuwait in 1977, where he taught over eighty nationalities in a multi-cultural independent academic institution for eight years, rising to Senior Management level, before returning to Europe in 1985.

He then began an entrepreneurial career, setting up and managing his own company, which was eventually bought out by the multi-national corporation, Mattel. In 1991, after the fall of communism, he was commissioned to set up a company in Budapest, Hungary, to handle the affairs of a number of British export companies that wished to target the emerging East European markets. After eighteen months spent successfully setting up the distribution channels and framework for this project, he returned to the U.K. to work in P.R. and media relations. Originally based in the South West of England, he moved to London in 1995 where he took up a position handling all media and P.R. activities for a leading London Housing Trust.

His work involved all aspects of publicity, media relations, P.R. and information dissemination about the organization. His media skills resulted in wide coverage for the organization’s activities in leading British newspapers and publications, including The Guardian, Observer, Sunday Times, Evening Standard, etc., two ten minute features on BBC Radio 4, and worldwide coverage on BBC World and Sky News. The exceptional coverage of one pioneering project led to this aspect of the organization’s work being presented to British Members of Parliament in a special all party presentation at the House Of Commons. During this period Michael also conducted training courses on P.R. and the media for specialist groups, including charitable institutions.

After joining Spearhead, Michael was appointed General Manager for Spearhead Gulf L.L.C. in 1998 and Managing Director in 1999. Under his leadership Spearhead has experienced unprecedented growth in the Gulf, expanding into a multi-office operation in the Middle East, with a client base approaching over 1600 companies. Since 1999 he has been a contributor to Gulf News, Gulf Marketing Review, and in-company airline magazines, as a writer on management and training issues. Michael is very interested in developing training courses suited to the needs of Gulf nationals and has spoken on this issue at the Gitex Conference, Dubai. More recently, in February 2009, he was a guest on the Business Breakfast on Dubai Eye, 103.8 FM speaking about strategic training solutions that will help companies succeed during an economic downturn.

With many years of experience in training, Michael has a fundamental belief that dynamic and positive change can be achieved if the correct training is delivered, in the right environment, by the right person. He believes that even a relatively short exposure to targeted effective learning, can be a very positive life changing experience for an individual.

Despite a successful career covering a number of areas, Michael believes that his greatest achievement to date was setting up the Free Kuwait Campaign in London, just a few days after the Iraqi invasion. With a number of volunteers, some of whom were his ex-Kuwaiti students, he co-ordinated the campaign’s activities full time until the liberation of Kuwait in February 1991. The campaign made a significant contribution to maintaining public support across the world for Kuwait’s cause. After the liberation, he participated in two BBC documentaries on radio and T.V., covering the campaign and the liberation. This involved travelling into newly liberated Kuwait with the two media teams just a few days after the Iraqi military had withdrawn.

Michael is an active member of the Dubai Natural History Group and has a keen interest in preserving the wildlife and natural environment of the U.A.E. and wider Gulf region. He regularly leads Natural History field trips into the interior of the U.A.E.

Michael specialises in delivering courses for Spearhead on Management & Leadership, Sales and Marketing, Negotiation Skills, Personal Development, and Specialised Customer Service Programmes.