Mike Townsend

Mike Townsend is a leading sustainability speaker, circular economy expert and Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Earthshine Group, a consultancy focused on accelerating sustainability and circular economy transformations. With over four decades of experience spanning engineering, procurement, supply chain management and sustainable business strategy, Mike is widely recognised for helping organisations move beyond high-level sustainability ambitions into practical, commercially viable action. As a keynote speaker, he is known for translating complex environmental and economic challenges into clear strategies that enable businesses to generate long-term value while addressing climate and resource pressures.

Mike began his career in the water industry, where he built his engineering expertise and progressed to the role of Principal Engineer. Seeking to broaden his strategic perspective, he completed an MBA in Strategic Procurement Management at the University of Birmingham, where he also worked as a Research Fellow. During this time, he led an ambitious global research project examining best practices across Japan, the USA, Europe and the UK. He went on to hold senior roles, including Senior Procurement Manager at the Environment Agency and Development Manager at Mace Group, where he drove initiatives in lean construction, strategic procurement, partnering and supply chain management.

He later founded Opps Consulting, delivering process re-engineering and supply chain solutions that generated cost savings of over 10 percent while enhancing customer experience. Following a merger, he became Chief Executive Officer of Newpoint Consulting, where he led rapid growth and established a strong reputation for procurement strategy and business transformation. A pivotal turning point came in 2005, when Mike recognised the unintended environmental and societal consequences of traditional efficiency-led models. This led to the founding of Earthshine Solutions in 2006, rebranded as Earthshine Group in 2020 and headquartered in Copenhagen. Under his leadership, the organisation supports clients across the UK, Europe and North America in redesigning value chains, embedding ESG thinking and adopting circular economy models to maximise both impact and commercial advantage.

Alongside his consultancy work, Mike has contributed to academia as faculty at DIS Copenhagen, where he designs and delivers courses on Sustainable Business Strategy, and as an advisory board member at the University of Oslo. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply. A prolific author, Mike has co-authored Strategic Procurement in Construction, lead-authored A Journey in Search of Capitalism, Reframing the Game and Don’t Waste Your Time on Net Zero, and is currently preparing his forthcoming book, The Quiet Revolution. His thought leadership has been featured in publications including The Guardian, The Huffington Post, Edie.net and Sustainable Brands. As a speaker, he has delivered keynote presentations at major industry events such as the Aviva Sustainability Summit, the IKEA Circular Economy Keynote, the EY Risk Conference and Circular Economy UK, where he equips leaders with practical frameworks and actionable strategies to embed sustainability across procurement, operations and long-term corporate strategy.