Michael McGee is the creative industry's leading expert on systems and performance management. He is a qualified chartered accountant, financial planner and management/business consultant with local and international experience, as well as a sought-after industry keynote speaker. It was Whybin Lawrence TBWA that launched Michael's career and lifelong passion for the creative industry after he joined its small finance team in 1999. For a young, green, finance gun, it was a baptism of fire as he plunged into overhauling the agency's process and accounting system due to the introduction of the GST. Two years later, Marketing Purchasing Company (MPC) appointed Michael as its Finance Manager, giving him autonomy and visibility into the innermost workings of a creative business. Within weeks, Michael recognised MPC wasn't harnessing the full potential of JobBag - one of the pioneers of automated creative systems. He rewrote MPC's systems and procedures manual to correctly capture project timesheets, purchase orders and quotes, giving the owners unprecedented visibility into the profitability of their client work and increasing their bottom line within six months. Michael worked with the JobBag team to refine the software so that it worked for MPC, enabling more informed decision making. He became an expert at streamlining information between MPC and its clients, working closely with procurement departments and suppliers. After recognising the vast potential of automated creative systems in increasing business profitability, Michael approached Instinct Systems, the founders of JobBag who immediately appointed him as their Business Systems Consultant expert. Within three years, Michael grew JobBag into the platform of choice for creative workflow systems. During this time, he invested thousands of hours speaking to hundreds of creative firms of all types and sizes to understand their challenges and opportunities. He helped set up and implement their creative systems, so they worked best for each business, training teams and consulting on system integration along the way. In early 2008, Michael recognised his unique position in the creative industry. Using his intimate understanding of how creative businesses work and the common challenges they face, he established himself as an independent consultant, trusted advisor and expert in the area of systems and performance management for creative businesses. Michael feels passionate that the creative economy will fuel Australia's next boom. He's driven to see creative companies lead the way in small business success, and reduce the number of wholly avoidable start up failures. Through M'Gee & Partners, Michael and his team harness a breadth of leading tech and automated systems for the finance and creative industries. Their goal is to ensure integration that works hard for each business, allowing them to capture, measure, manage and predict, so they make highly informed decisions and increase short and long-term profitability. Outside of work, Michael is the doting father of three beautiful teenagers and a rather lazy Bernese Mountain dog. He (not the dog) is an avid adventurer, explorer and mountaineer, but these days he tends to plant more flags on the summit of his newly profitable clients, than he does out in the open air.