Mike Harris

Mike Harris co-founded Egg Plc, one of the UK's leading Internet banks, in 1998 and served as executive vice-chairmen. Egg's success and profile set the agenda for the financial services industry and inspired a series of imitators.

Prior to launching Egg, Mike had a similar impact on the banking industry in 1988 as founder and chief executive of First Direct, launching the world's first mould-breaking direct telephone banking operation. As chief executive of Mercury, the first European telecommunications company to challenge BT after the deregulation of the UK telecommunications market, Mike launched a number of major businesses including the mobile operator One to One.

Mike is seen as a European leader in developing a successful open-finance model for the New Economy. He has served on several Government committees concerned with the transformation of public services and is a board member of The Club of Budapest, a think tank on the impact of the New Economy on society.

Currently, Mike is Executive Chairman of garlik, a new company applying innovative semantic web technology to a mass-market consumer service and giving individuals real power over the use of their personal information in the digital world.