Sir Michael Fallon is Deputy Chairman of the oil company Genel Energy PlC, and a former British Member of Parliament and Secretary of State for Defence (2014-17).

Sir Michael was first elected to Parliament in 1983. He has served as a Minister in four Conservative governments. He was Schools Minister under Margaret Thatcher and John Major; Business and Energy Minister under David Cameron, and Defence Secretary for both David Cameron and Theresa May.

As Minister of State for Business Sir Michael had responsibility for the aerospace, automotive, chemical and steel industries as well as for business deregulation; he steered the successful privatisation of Royal Mail. As Minister of State for Energy he had responsibility for the nuclear, oil, gas, electricity and renewables industries.

Appointed to the Cabinet as Defence Secretary in July 2014, Sir Michael had overall responsibility for the armed forces and a £35 billion annual budget.  He had charge of the British contribution to the counter-Daesh campaign in Iraq and Syria, and led the Strategic Defence and Security Review of 2015. He represented the UK at the NATO summits in Wales, Warsaw and Brussels.

Outside of politics Sir Michael was a director of several companies with entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne.  He has served on the boards of portfolio companies owned by private equity firms Alchemy Partners (UK) and Industri Kapital (Sweden). He was for eight years a main board director of the inter-dealer broker Tullett Prebon PLC. He is currently non-executive chairman of the London property company Avanton Ltd. and a consultant to other companies.  He also writes and broadcasts on defence and security matters.