Michael de Kare-Silver is a leading advisor on e-business and the Internet. He was a main board director at GUS (Great Universal Stores), a FTSE Top 50 company, in charge of e-commerce, is presently a Director at Thus Plc (formally Scottish Telecom) and at the Cambridge Technology Centre and previously with Flying Brands (a successful Jersey-based mail order operation). He is also a visiting professor at Middlesex University Business School.
He has consulted widely with management teams across Europe and North America on the commercial and strategic impact of new technologies, the Net, and wireless, and has advised on a number of business transformation programmes. Clients have included Astra Zeneca, ICI, Brooks Brothers, Nestle and CGNU.
He is a well-known business commentator having written four books, including the best-selling Strategy in Crisis and e-shock. His new book Streamlining is published in 2002. He’s contributed articles to many publications including the FT, Sunday Times and Management Today, and has been interviewed by Bloomberg TV and the silicom.com network.
Michael began his career with the law firm Slaughter and May in London. After two years he then joined Proctor and Gamble. Working in sales, marketing and branding management, he was responsible for several new product launches across Europe and became a Marketing Manager in the soaps and shampoos category. He also won the Top Salesman Award.
Moving on from Proctor and Gamble, Michael went into consultancy profession. In 1988 he set up his own consultancy operation called the Kalchas Group. Kalchas became a significant player in the strategy consultancy field. It grew to approximately 100 people with offices in London and New York, and a joint venture in India. Ernst and Young acquired 10% of the company in 1993 to add to its own consultancy services. In 1997 Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) acquired the whole firm, looking for Kalchas to lead its strategy consulting and growing e-commerce activities in Europe and North America. Michael became Vice President there, and a member of the CSC European Management Committee. In 1999 he left CSC and joined Great Universal Stores.
In 2008 he announced the launch of a ground-breaking social networking and shopping site, MyFaveShop.com, with Lord Saatchi and John Clare, former CEO of the Dixons Group.