OUR LEADERSHIP TEAM

Who is behind Bayleaf? And What do they do?

Co-Founder, Mike McKie

Leadership Rooted in Global Experience

Mike McKie brings decades of international leadership experience to Bayleaf. His early career was spent as a senior executive with global corporations, working across Europe, the United States, Latin America and Asia. These external‑facing roles — spanning engagement with suppliers, governments and media — gave him a deep understanding of how credibility, reputation and visibility shape professional success.

This global perspective later became the foundation of Bayleaf’s approach to recognition, narrative development and reputation management.

Founder of Bayleaf & Specialist in UK Honours

Mike is the founder of Bayleaf Honours, created to help individuals navigate and demystify the UK Honours system. His expertise includes guiding nominees through every stage of the process, breaking down complex requirements, and preparing clear, evidence‑driven submissions that reflect genuine achievement.

He is widely recognised for his work making the Honours process more accessible — supporting individuals from community leaders to high‑profile figures, and helping ensure that recognition is based on merit rather than connections.

Contact Mike About Honours and Leadership Awards

About Mike

A Personal Approach to Every Client

Mike is directly involved with every client Bayleaf supports. He maintains sole, confidential contact from the beginning of the engagement to final submission, ensuring consistency, trust and discretion throughout the entire process. Clients never need to deal with anyone other than Mike — a model he believes is critical to maintaining the integrity and confidentiality required for Honours and reputation work.

Along with Bayleaf’s wider team of researchers, writers and journalists, Mike ensures that every nomination or profile is built from factual detail, carefully structured evidence and a deep understanding of how committees evaluate impact.

A Trusted Voice on the Honours System

Beyond his consultancy work, Mike is a public commentator on the UK Honours process, contributing interviews, guidance, and thought leadership to reputable media outlets:

Featured as an expert in a detailed Royal Central interview explaining how the Honours process has evolved and how public nominations have become more accessible.
Writer and commentator for The Independent, where he shares insights into the Honours system and recognition for charitable and community contributions.
Contributor on Medium, where he discusses recognition, diversity within the Honours system, and societal themes influencing public honours.

These contributions reinforce his standing as a knowledgeable, trusted expert in the field.

A Reputation Built on Ethics, Honesty and Clarity

Mike’s work is guided by a clear professional ethos:

No exaggeration or embellishment
No implied influence or insider access
Uncompromising confidentiality
Evidence‑based, factual, transparent submissions

This approach has earned Bayleaf a reputation for integrity, clear communication and client‑centred practice.

Helping People and Organisations Tell Their Stories

Mike specialises in helping innovators, leaders and philanthropists articulate their achievements with clarity and purpose. His work includes:

Personal and professional Honours nominations
Executive profile writing
Reputation-building strategies
Press and award submissions
International recognition consulting

Under his leadership, Bayleaf has supported hundreds of individuals and organisations seeking recognition for outstanding work and public contribution.

A Commitment to Recognition Based on Merit

Mike founded Bayleaf on the belief that outstanding contributions deserve to be understood, acknowledged and celebrated. By combining strategic insight, narrative skill and meticulous research, he ensures that every nomination Bayleaf prepares presents clients in their strongest, most authentic light.

Co-Founder & Director of Operations, Maria Gomes

“I have always enjoyed the challenge of bringing complex situations and difficult problems from chaos to order. From my corporate career working across multi-functional and multi-geographic teams to running Bayleaf, those organisational skills have been key.”

Maria is responsible for all the day-to-day elements of the Bayleaf operation, from external outreach programmes to obtain letters of support and items of evidence to create nominations for our clients, to maintaining our unique cloud-based system to allow clients to track progress of our work in real time.

Her skill set in working between the writing group, the client-facing team and the external supporters to ensure confidentiality, quality of content in letters and timely submission is a vital part of the Bayleaf success story and our peerless results and client experience.