The latest speaker for the Institute of Directors annual convention will dive into ethical failings at the UK Post Office’s IT scandal.
Professor Richard Moorhead is a former solicitor and an academic in the field of law and professional ethics, currently at the University of Exeter.
He will explore the governance failures at the Post Office which contributed to the highly publicised Horizon IT scandal which saw hundreds of staff wrongly convicted for accounting shortfalls which were actually down to software failures.
His talk, titled ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Corporate Governance – Lessons from the Post Office Scandal’, will offer insight into the ethical dimensions of leadership and accountability.
Professor Moorhead sits on the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board, advising the Department for Business and Trade on compensation schemes for victims of the scandal.
For directors, the talk will provide lessons on how culture, legal accountability and professional ethics interact, and what leaders can do to ensure stronger oversight, better decision-making, and more responsible governance.
His attendance at the convention will be complemented by a talk from former subpostmaster and campaigner Lee Castleton OBE, whose story was central to the award-winning ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office.
Glen Tonks, Chair of the IoD Guernsey Branch, said Professor Moorhead “brings deep expertise and clarity to the often-overlooked ethical dimensions of governance.
“His work on the Post Office scandal adds to a growing body of evidence that ethics must be embedded, and not just assumed, within organisations.”
The 2025 annual convention takes place on 2 October.