Michael Mainelli


Professor Michael Raymond Mainelli, Chairman of Z/Yen, serves as a Sheriff of the City of London for 2019–20.
Emeritus Gresham Professor of Commerce at Gresham College, he is founder of the Long Finance initiative. Alderman for Broad Street Ward in the City of London since 2013, Mainelli was elected Aldermanic Sheriff on 24 June 2019.

Education

Mainelli attended Harvard College, Trinity College Dublin and the London School of Economics and Political Science. His early scientific research in aerospace and computer graphics led to him starting Swiss companies in seismology, cartography and energy information from 1979 to 1984. He conceived and produced the first complete digital map of the world in 1983, Mundocart, as well as the $20 million Geodat cartography project from 1980 to 1984.

Career

After joining Arthur Andersen in 1985, Mainelli became a senior partner and board member of the accountancy firm BDO Binder Hamlyn from 1987 to 1994.
At Gresham College, as a Visiting Professor, Mainelli lectured on new concepts of money and the role of government. He delivered and published a series of 28 free one-hour lectures on commerce at Gresham College in the City of London while serving as Mercers School Memorial Professor of Commerce from 2005 to 2009. The theme of his programme was “Society’s Commercial Choice – Risks and Rewards of Markets”.
In 2005 Mainelli, Z/Yen in conjunction with Gresham College, the City of London Corporation and forty financial institutions, launched Long Finance's London Accord, an agreement to share environmental, social and governance research with policy makers and the public.
While co-founding Z/Yen in 1994, Professor Mainelli had a spell in merchant banking with Deutsche Morgan Grenfell and served as Corporate Development Director of Europe's largest R&D organisation leading to two privatisations. At Z/Yen, Mainelli established the Global Financial Centres Index, The London Accord, , the Global Intellectual Property Index, the Global Green Finance Index, the Farsight Award, and other financial services initiatives. His area of current research encompasses the research programme and he speaks quite frequently on his two decades of research on 'smart ledgers' as well as other technologies.
Mainelli is a chartered certified accountant, computer specialist, securities professional and management consultant. He is a non-executive Director of the United Kingdom Accreditation Service where he is a proponent for competitive standards markets, and two AIM-listed companies, PCGE plc, and Wishbone Gold plc. He is a Fellow and Trustee of Gresham College and a former Visiting Professor of the London School of Economics.
In 2013, Mainelli was elected Alderman of Broad Street for the City of London Corporation. In 2015 he was awarded the title of Consigliere del Senato Accademico of L’Accademia Tiberina. Master of the Worshipful Company of World Traders for 2017–18, he has held advisory posts at City University, Hitachi UK, and HM Treasury.
Mainelli was elected Sheriff of the City of London on 24 June 2019 and assumed office on 27 September 2019.

Honours

Mainelli has published over 50 journal articles, 200 commercial articles and four books, including the novel, "Clean Business Cuisine: Now and Z/Yen", written with Ian Harris. Mainelli's economics book, "The Price of Fish", also written with Ian Harris, applied his Gresham lecture series ideas to 'wicked problems'. "The Price of Fish" won the 2012 Independent Publishers Gold Award for Finance, Investment and Economics.

Publications

Novels

Mainelli married in 1996 Elisabeth and together they undertook the restoration of the Thames Sailing Barge "SB" Lady Daphne, while he still lectures on, and supports, sailing barges and their history. He has been an International Member, International Financial Services Industry Advisory Committee, Office of the Taoiseach – Dublin, Ireland since 2015.