The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, a national, non-profit public charity, recently welcomed Michael (Mike) Welch OBE as a member of its board of trustees, serving a three-year term. Welch is CEO and president of e-commerce tire retailer Tirebuyer.com and retail platform Treadsy.
“Growing up in foster care in Liverpool in the 1980s and 1990s, my life could have taken a different turn, but thanks to my foster family, who later became my adopted family and the intervention of the Prince’s Trust, I found a path to personal and business success,” Welch said. “Now, having made North America my second home, I am committed to giving back and changing the lives of children in foster care.”
After leaving school at 16, Welch set up his first tire business from his childhood bedroom. From there, he went on to found multimillion-dollar businesses in the tire industry. He established The Welch Trust in 2015 focusing on supporting children and young people in need of foster homes and adoptive families, as well as helping children experiencing terminal illnesses, The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption said.
Through its program, “Wendy’s Wonderful Kids,” the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption said it provides funding to adoption agencies to support the hiring of child welfare professionals, known as recruiters, who implement an evidence-based, child-focused recruitment model. To date, more than 550 “Wendy’s Wonderful Kids” recruiters have found families for more than 13,800 children in foster care across North America.
Welch was awarded an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 2016 for services to business and charity. He also received an honorary doctorate in Enterprise from Edinburgh’s Napier University.
