Michael runs and skis in his native Switzerland. He runs a family property company there, and skis in The Grisons. His mother, a survivor of the Shoah, is 95 and lives in Zürich, so if Covid doesn’t stop him, he gets there often.

After his baccalaureate, he left that all-too-calm patch to come study here and in the States, at the LSE, Columbia and MIT, before joining BCG for several years of strategy consulting. His signal achievement there was to become friends with Nick Viner. Then, it was time for coffee. He started the coffee chain Aroma, backed by Apax, and sold it to McDonalds.

Michael then made his way into branding: strategy consulting, but with pictures! First at Wolff Olins. Then he founded brand agency venturethree and helped start Studio Nomad, propelling clients -including Sky, Penguin, Just Eat, Disney, Hearst, SES, The Times, OpenBet, Disney+, Frieze etc. – towards more creative and effective self-expression.

Michael is 65, has 4 children -playing in the band The AutistiX with his son Saul and 3 grandchildren, and he is married to Susan. Michael has advised the Circle Square founders since its inception.