Sir Michael is the founder, Chief Executive and Senior Investment Officer of CQS, one of Europe’s leading multi-strategy asset management firms. He is also a Senior Portfolio Manager.
Prior to establishing CQS, Michael was Managing Director in the Leveraged Funds Group at CSFB where he developed the strategy and management team for the CSFB Convertible & Quantitative Strategies Fund, which later became CQS Convertible and Quantitative Strategies Fund. Before this, Michael was Managing Director and European Head of Convertibles at CSFB, responsible for flow and proprietary trading, sales and research.
Before joining CSFB in 1996, Michael worked at Goldman Sachs for 12 years in a variety of roles including Head of UK Equity Trading. From 1984 to 1992 he established and built up Goldman’s Euro Convertible and European Warrants business in London. During this period he sat on a number of committees at the London Stock Exchange, ISMA and LIBA.
Prior to joining Goldman Sachs in 1984, Michael worked for Salomon Brothers in New York as a Fixed Income Trader trading Yankee Bonds having completed the firm’s Graduate Training Program in 1982.
Michael served for three years in the Australian Regular Army finishing as a Captain in the Royal Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. After the Army he worked as an Electrical Design Engineer for Civil and Civic Pty Ltd in Australia. In 2014, Michael was called to serve on the International Advisory Panel for the Australian government’s Financial Services Inquiry and subsequently as a Member of the Market Practitioners’ Panel of the UK’s Fair and Effective Markets Review. He presently serves as a Member of the Vatican Bank Board and sits on the Audit Committee of the Duchy of Cornwall. Michael has significant and wide-ranging philanthropic interests and to consolidate these, the Hintze Family Charitable Foundation was established in 2005. Since inception, over 200 charities have received funding from the Foundation. Major donations have, amongst others, provided funding to Trinity Hospice in south London, the Royal Naval and Royal Marines Charity, established the chair of International Security at the University of Sydney and enabled the restoration of Michelangelo’s frescoes in the Pauline Chapel at the Vatican. The beneficial impact of the Foundation on cultural organisations in the UK include the Natural History Museum, the University of Oxford Centre for Astrophysical Surveys, sponsorship of the Sculpture and Medieval and Renaissance galleries at the Victoria & Albert Museum and the provision of vital funding to the Old Vic Theatre in London, where Michael is co-Chairman of the Old Vic Endowment Trust. He is a Trustee of the Institute of Economic Affairs and is Vice Patron of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity. Michael was formally a Trustee of the National Gallery, where he assisted in securing Titian’s Diana and Actaeon for the nation. Michael was made a Papal Knight, a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory in 2005, subsequently Knight Grand Cross, and in January 2008 he was honoured as “Australian of the Year” in the UK. In November 2009, Michael and his wife Dorothy received the Prince of Wales Award for Arts Philanthropy. In January 2013, he was made a Member of the Order of Australia for services to the community through philanthropic contributions supporting the arts, health and education. In June 2013, Michael was awarded a knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for his philanthropic services to the arts. Michael is a fluent Russian speaker. He holds a BSc in Physics and Pure Mathematics and a BEng in Electrical Engineering both from the University of Sydney. He also holds an MSc in Acoustics from the University of New South Wales, an MBA from Harvard Business School and received a DBA (honoris) from the University of New South Wales.
