Mike was not only a brilliant scholar and a kind person, but also a person I could trust, always giving this bit of advice that only someone who knew the world of academia inside out could give. He knew how to work with people and was often the 'glue' of teams of co-authors that he put together. I remember I asked him how he managed to edit 10 books and 20 special issues at a time with so many people. He just knew the whole world.
A lot of Mike's work at the beginning of his career was done around privatization in Russia, CIS, and CEE, corporate governance, and strategy in emerging economies. Some of his most cited works – e.g., AMJ (2000) and JMS (2005) are from that period. His research reached into so many different areas – entrepreneurship (he is the most cited scholar in the field of entrepreneurship only according to Google Scholar), private equity and buyouts, university spin-outs, and many others (according to his Imperial web site, he has written over 40 books and more than 300 papers in academic and professional journals, but even that is probably an understatement!).
He agreed to become one of my supervisors shortly after he joined Imperial College in 2011. I was doing work on corporate governance in Russia and he was still interested in this field. I remember our first supervision meetings. Mike would sit in front of his computer, halfway turned towards me, and while I was bubbling away about my progress, he would listen, comment, occasionally refer to a JMS or SMJ article from a few years ago (he literally knew by heart the content of each issue) and AT THE SAME TIME write editorial decision letters, edit manuscripts, respond to emails, and many other things like arranging his train rides between Nottingham and London. I learned to share Mike's time with many other people. This is how Mike worked, and this is why he was so prolific. After I graduated, I continued to work with Mike and published my first paper with him, and then another paper... We went on to organize an SMS extension on state capitalism in 2018 where he did a brilliant keynote speech (pictured after), secured a contract with Oxford University Press for the Handbook on State Capitalism, amongst other projects..
As many know, Mike was a huge fan of Bob Dylan. His skype profile was Bob Dylan's picture. He was also a BlackBerry fan. Hence he was either responding a second later or never.
I am sure there would be many aspects of Mike's work or his wonderful personality that people would remember. This is Mike how I will always remember him. I have been lucky enough to work with him, and I will continue to work on the projects we started, for him, for his legacy.
Anna Grosman
Lecturer in Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Loughborough University London
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Anna Grosman
Assistant Professor
Loughborough University
Birmingham
+447887555812
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Original Message:
Sent: 11-26-2019 16:44
From: Dawn DeTienne
Subject: Mike Wright
Hello fellow ENT friends and scholars,
As you may have heard, Mike Wright passed away surrounded by love ones after a brief illness. The ENT community is reeling from this news as Mike had such a positive impact on so many. He was a prolific scholar, an outstanding mentor, and a friend to so very many. We are currently setting up a forum wherein you can all express your condolences and your memories. Please reply to this discussion thread to share stories and remembrances with our whole community, or visit our "In Memoriam" page to view the comments left by others.
With condolences,
Dawn
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Dawn DeTienne
Professor
Colorado State University
Fort Collins CO
(970) 631-5930
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