Michael Bear (lord mayor)

Sir Michael David Bear, HonFREng (born 21 January 1953, Kenya Colony) was the 683rd Lord Mayor of London, whose one-year term began on 12 November 2010 and ended on 11 November 2011. Until his resignation in 2017, he was the Alderman of the Ward of Portsoken and previously represented that Ward as Common Councilman and Deputy. In 2007 he was elected as Aldermanic Sheriff of London (for a one-year term).

Sir Michael Bear
HonFREng
683rd Lord Mayor of London
In office
12 November 2010 – 11 November 2011
Preceded byNick Anstee
Succeeded bySir David Wootton
Personal details
Born21 January 1953
Nairobi, Kenya Colony
NationalityBritish
SpouseBarbara née Sandler
ChildrenAmy; Marc
ResidenceLondon
Alma materClifton College, Witwatersrand Univ;
Cranfield Univ
ProfessionProperty & construction

A liveryman of the Paviors' Company, he subsequently joined the Chartered Surveyors' and Engineers' Companies. Bear was a key figure in the redevelopment of Spitalfields Market, situated just to the northeast of the City in Tower Hamlets.

Early life and education

Sir Michael was born in Nairobi, in Kenya Colony, and grew up in Cyprus. Later he went to school at Clifton College in Bristol, before studying at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, and Cranfield University in the UK.

Career

Sir Michael is a civil engineer and a management leader in both the construction and property industries in the UK and abroad. He has worked in the international construction industry, managing projects in China, Far East and West Africa. In London, he was responsible for the successful completion of the development of Spitalfields and was Chief Executive of the Spitalfields Development Group. He has served on several leadership roles for the City of London Corporation.

As Alderman for Portsoken Ward

Bear was the Alderman representing Portsoken Ward from 2006 to 2017. He resigned in 2017 and this led to the December 2017 Aldermanic bye election. When it came to light that his successor, Prem Goyal, had printed about 1,000 leaflets using the corporations equipment, Bear made a formal complaint which led to the matter being considered by the standards sub-committee who accepted Goyal's apology as regards to the matter provided he underwent training and repaid the cost of the printing.[1]

As Lord Mayor

As Lord Mayor, Bear played a promotional role for the Square Mile, and claimed a remit for the whole of the UK-wide financial and professional services industry.[2] He was also ex-officio Chancellor of City University London during his Lord Mayoral term (2010–11). For example, Bear opened the trading session at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in July 2011.[3]

Bear was given an Award[4] of Doctor of Science honoris causa by City University London in 2011.

Bear was knighted in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to regeneration, charity and the City of London.[5]

Bear was appointed an Honorary Fellow (Hon FREng)[6] of the Royal Academy of Engineering[7] in 2010.

Business activities

From 1993 to 2012 he was managing director of Balfour Beatty Properties where he specialised in working on private finance initiatives (PFIs) and public-private partnerships (PPPs).[8]

In June 2017 Bear was appointed as Chair of Turley, an independent UK planning consultancy.

Family

Married to Barbara Sandler, they have a son named Marc and a daughter named Amy. Michael has two siblings, Denise and Susan.

References
  1. Oxtoby, Tom. "Councillor in hot water over misuse of public funds - City Matters". citymatters.london. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
  2. Bear, Michael (17 October 2011). "The City needs to stay the world's top choice". Retrieved 17 November 2017.
  3. Shemer, Nadav (3 July 2011). "London lord mayor opens trading at TA stock exchange". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 4 July 2011. City of London Lord Mayor Michael Bear opened trading at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange on Sunday, ahead of a panel discussion on opportunities for cooperation between London and Tel Aviv.
  4. London; Kingdom, United; Union, European. "Sir Michael Bear, Honorary Graduate 2011". City, University of London. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  5. "No. 60009". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2011. p. 1.
  6. "List of Fellows". Archived from the original on 8 June 2016. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  7. "List of Fellows". Archived from the original on 8 June 2016. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  8. "Speaker-Sir Michael Bear - UK Property Forums". UK Property Forums. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
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