After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in Edinburgh Michael returned to Elgin to work in his family’s whisky business, Gordon & MacPhail (G&M) in 1981.

Initially joining as finance director, he spent the last twenty years of his career at G&M travelling extensively around the world promoting whiskies bottled by G&M, as well as from the company’s own distillery, Benromach, which they purchased and refurbished before reopening it in 1998. Benromach sponsored NTS production of The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart when it toured the UK and North America in 2012 & 2013. G&M opened their second distillery, The Cairn, in 2022.

Michael retired as Managing Director of G&M in 2014 and he is a past Board Member of the Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI). He is Chairman of the Scottish Committee, and sits on the Court, of the Worshipful Company of Distillers, one of the City of London Livery Companies. In addition, he sits on the Programme Board, and Chairs the Business Assembly, of the Moray Growth Deal, a £100m regional investment programme over eight strategic projects.

Michael was awarded a CBE in the Late Queen’s Platinum Birthday Honours list for services to the Scotch Whisky Industry and charity in Moray. He is also a Fellow of the RSA, a Fellow of SCDI, and Honorary Fellow of the University of The Highlands & Islands, a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Distillers, a Freeman of the City of London, and a Master of the Quaich.