Researching Michael Woodford

Joining Olympus in 1981 and rising to manage its European operations, Woodford was the first non-Japanese person to be appointed as the company's CEO in October 2011, having "exceeded expectations" as president and chief operating officer for the previous six months. Within two months, he became a central figure in exposing the Olympus scandal, having been removed from his position after serving two weeks, when he persisted in questioning fees in excess of US$1 billion that Olympus had paid to obscure companies, which appear to have been used to hide old losses and appeared to have organised crime connections. The scandal rocked Japanese corporate governance, led to the resignation of the entire Olympus board and several arrests of senior executives, including the previous CEO and chairman, and the company's former auditor and bankers among others, and made Woodford one of the most highly placed executives to turn whistleblower. By 2012 the scandal he exposed had developed into one of the biggest and longest-lived loss-concealing financial scandals in the history of corporate Japan.

His bravery and stance in the scandal, in which he understood his life was at risk due to the criminal organisation connections of some of the suspect monies he had questioned, earned him several prestigious awards for "Businessperson of the Year".

Following a settlement for defamation and wrongful dismissal by Olympus, Woodford now consults on corporate governance worldwide, speaks on human rights, whistleblower laws and road safety. He also undertakes philanthropy, and has stated he has given several millions of pounds to charities. In November 2012 Woodford published a book about the Olympus scandal, and a film was also underway.