Michael Foster was born in Birmingham and was educated at the Great Wyrley High School in Great Wyrley near Cannock, and Wolverhampton Polytechnic (now Wolverhampton University) where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics in 1984.
He followed in his father Brian's footsteps when he joined Jaguar Cars in 1984 as a financial analyst, becoming a senior analyst in 1985 and a management accountant in 1987.