Michael Lee Cannon

By the time Michael Lee Cannon left High School in Bristol, RI he had already lived at 23 different addresses across America courtesy of his father's career in the U.S. Navy. As an adult, he carried on the tradition over the following decades and has lived in Charlottesville, Baltimore, San Francisco, New York City, Dallas, the Jersey Shore, Amsterdam, London and Singapore. He has also traveled extensively throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Following his years at the University of Virginia, Michael went into banking, and soon developed a reputation as an expert in the payment business. Although sometimes unflatteringly referred to as financial "plumbing", payments and cash management contribute heavily towards the influence that banks have on the global economy. The fact that a payment is required for a consumer's utility bill, a worker sending a monthly subsidy back to his family in a far-away country or the funding of a government or corporation only points to the broad reach of the product. Payment problems are also often the first indication of a crisis, whether resulting from a broker-dealer who cannot repay funds owed to their clients, a country that cannot repay bondholders or individuals behind on their mortgages.

After working for J. P. Morgan Chase, Visa International and HSBC, Michael established a consulting practice focused upon payments and cash management. The challenges faced by governments, banks, corporations and consumers on just this subject alone have yielded a lengthy list of issues that require resourcing and attention.

Michael's knowledge of the business and his time as an expatriate provide the foundation for the scenes that take place in his first work of fiction - Clearing House.