Professor Michael Brown is the Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) and under his leadership, LJMU has, uniquely in UK Higher Education, applied the Excellence Model to the whole university as its leadership and management framework with great success. In a 2004 report commissioned by the British Government, LJMU was uniquely commended for its approach to governance, management and leadership. Now LJMU takes pride in being the only university in Europe ever to win a business excellence award under the EFQM framework (UK Excellence Award 2008 - British Quality Foundation).

LJMU has now launched a new and unique approach to global higher education, adding high-level WoW™ (World of Work) skills to the opportunities available to students, so that the graduates will be equipped for career success with a quality education AND high-level skills. This work is supported by leading figures in commercial companies and major organisations as the template for graduates to best succeed in a competitive global economy.

A brief career description would be: a research and academic staff post at Nottingham University; a Royal Society European Fellowship held in Centre d’Etudes Nucleaires in Grenoble; Senior Lecturer at Loughborough University, General Manager of Loughborough Consultants; Pro-Vice-Chancellor at De Montfort University; current post as above

Professor Brown is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics, a Chartered Physicist, a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, a Chartered Engineer, a European Engineer (Eur. Ing.), a Fellow of the Institute of Management, a Companion of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Freeman of the City of London and a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Engineers. He is a Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Merseyside and was made a Commander of the British Empire in the last New Year’s Honours List.

Among his many interests and activities, he was the Chair of the Strategy and Performance Committee for Merseyside European Funding, is Chairman of the Liverpool Science Park, and Chairman of the Liverpool and Merseyside Theatres Trust (Everyman and Playhouse theatres).