Michael Gould is founder and Director of People Development International Ltd., a consultancy specialising in public policy on skills.
Before his retirement, Michael was a senior civil servant in the Department for the Economy where he was instrumental in developing and delivering three national skills strategies for Northern Ireland. Michael also played a lead role in the establishment of the Assured Skills programme, the Review of Apprenticeships and industry engagement on skills issues.
Michael has a lot of international experience, most recently in North Macedonia, and he also spent nearly five years as a diplomat in Washington DC and a period with the Swedish Government in Stockholm. Michael is the author of the recent report ‘Software Skills for the 10X Economy’ published by the CBI NI and funded by Invest NI.