About
About Michael Tabirade
I help membership organisations and public sector bodies deliver complex change with the governance and risk discipline their boards can trust. I have spent over 15 years doing it from two sides that rarely meet in one person: leading delivery inside large, complex organisations, and governing one from the board.
Why I do this
Most programme leaders can run a delivery plan. Most board members can scrutinise a risk register. Few can do both.
I deliver complex programmes as a working practitioner, and I sit on a board as a trustee and Chair of a Risk and Finance Committee. That combination is the whole point of how I work. I bring board-level governance and risk thinking into the delivery itself, so change does not just happen, it happens in a way the organisation can govern, evidence, and stand behind.
Delivery
Built inside complex organisations.
My delivery career has been spent almost entirely in the NHS and public sector, on programmes where governance, stakeholder alignment, and delivery rigour are not optional. I have worked with NHS England, NHSX, the UK Health Security Agency, University Hospital Southampton, Natural England, and DEFRA. That work has spanned digital child health, cancer data and secure data environments, public health transformation, and operating model reform. During the pandemic I led workforce and resourcing strategy at UKHSA under acute pressure, and was recognised with a commendation for it.
Governance
Trusted at the board table.
On the governance side, I serve on the board of the Institute of Leadership as a trustee and Chair of its Risk and Finance Committee. I lead its financial risk governance, oversee its investment portfolio, and work with the CEO and board on strategic direction and long-term sustainability. I have embedded a formal risk assurance framework there, including a defined risk appetite and clearer risk ownership, and I translate technical detail across finance, risk, and digital into plain recommendations a board can act on. I know what weak governance costs an organisation, and what strong governance unlocks.
How I work with you
Honest, practical, direct.
I work directly with you, not through layers of junior staff. I am honest, practical, and direct. I would rather raise the uncomfortable thing early than manage you toward a polite surprise later. My work is grounded in experience, evidence, and clear judgement, not frameworks for their own sake.
Beyond consulting
Coach and author.
I am also an EMCC accredited coach and the author of four books on performance and achievement: Understand Reach Expand, Happyness, Desire, and The Power of Goals. I share the same principles with a wider audience through my writing and my YouTube channel, where I help ambitious professionals build independent and portfolio careers.
Let’s talk.
If your organisation needs to deliver something complex, strengthen its governance and risk, or get an honest, experienced read on where it stands, let’s talk. Book a discovery call and we will work out whether I am the right person to help.