Michael Cañares, known as Miko to his friends, has a consummate passion for learning new things. His more than 25 years of work experience is characterised by an endless pursuit of finding answers to questions, designing solutions to emerging problems, and finding ways to measure change.
He is currently Senior Performance and Quality Adviser of the Mekong-Australia Partnership . In the past, he was Senior Research Manager for Digital Citizenship at the World Wide Web Foundation’s Open Data Lab Jakarta , and a research, MEL, organisational strategy, and facilitation consultant of various organisations in Southeast Asia and globally. He also taught accountancy and business management for more than 15 years at Holy Name University.
As a certified public accountant, he has designed financial systems for small cooperatives, civil society organisations, corporations, and philanthropic foundations. In recognition of his excellence in teaching and learning, he was awarded by the Central Bank of the Philippines and Citibank as the Most Outstanding Finance Educator in 2010 .
He founded Step Up Consulting twenty years ago, and was its managing consultant for at least 15 years. He still serves as its strategy advisor.
He holds accountancy, business education and Juris Doctor qualifications from Philippine universities, as well as a masters degree in development studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is currently finishing his doctoral degree in knowledge and innovation management from the Institute for Knowledge and Innovation Southeast Asia, a center for excellence based at Bangkok University.
Miko is a Ford Foundation International Fellow . In 2022, Holy Name University awarded Miko as Outstanding Alumni for Social Responsibility recognising his sensitivity and care for people, culture and environment and his involvement in activities that promote empowerment of people and transformation of the community.
Michael "Miko" Cañares 