Richard Morris

Coaching & Mentoring

Richard Morris
MA (Oxon) Hon FRAM RCM RNCM

Richard Morris has gained exceptionally wide experience of business, the professions, the arts and education over a 45 year career (see: Biography). From 1993 to 2009 he was Chief Executive of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM).

He now acts for a range of organisations and individuals, and offers services, in the following capacities:-

Chairman
Non-executive Director
Trustee

Consultant
Coach
Mentor

Music Arts Education Publishing

Law
Finance
Business
Leadership

Richard Morris was educated at Eton, New College Oxford and the College of Law. He qualified and practised as a solicitor with Farrer & Co., and subsequently as a senior manager in corporate finance with the investment bankers, S. G. Warburg & Co. Ltd. In 1979 he joined Hodder and Stoughton Publishers, where he held the posts of Group Finance Director and Managing Director of Educational and Academic Publishing. In 1989 he was appointed joint Managing Director of the Hodder and Stoughton Group and at that time also served on the boards of The Lancet Ltd. and Southern Radio plc. From 1975 onwards Richard received private singing tuition and sang various operatic rôles with Opera Viva, Morley College Opera and South London Opera. He was a member of the Council of Kent Opera (1985-1990) and co-founded Almaviva Opera, designed to make opera more accessible to school children. From 1993 to 2009 Richard Morris was Chief Executive of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM). ABRSM is the world leader in its field, conducting c.650,000 music exams p.a. in c.90 countries. It is also one of the UK’s main music publishers, and provides a range of professional development courses and online services to music teachers. During his tenure, ABRSM’s turnover grew from £13m. to £37m., generating annual charitable donations of £7m. and making ABRSM the largest private benefactor of music education in the UK. Richard Morris became a member of the Executive Committee of the Music Education Council in 1996 and was elected its Chairman for three years from 1998. He has also served as a member of the National Music Education Forum and the Music Business Forum. He was on the Board of the Council for Dance Education and Training from 1999 to 2004 and was Chairman of the Henri Oguike Dance Company between 2010 and 2012. Richard has been a Governor of the Yehudi Menuhin School since 2005 and was elected its Chairman in 2011. He is also a member of the Mayor's Music Education Group and in 2011 co-founded and was elected Deputy Chairman of the Mayor of London’s Fund for Young Musicians. He continues to serve as a Trustee of Music Preserved, a charity for the conservation of historic recordings. Richard has recently been co-opted onto the board of Music Mark, the UK Association for Music Education. Alongside music, Richard has deep interests across all the arts, especially in art, architecture and poetry. Since 1998 he has taken courses at the Poetry School, the City Lit and the City University, and is a member of the Development Board of the Arvon Foundation and a Trustee of the poetry journal Magma. In collaboration with his artist daughter, Hatty, Richard has created OperaRhymes (see www.operarhymes.com), a collection of stories from operas told in illustrated verse form. In 2010 Richard Morris successfully completed an AOEC Course for a diploma in executive and leadership coaching and is active as a mentor and coach.

Richard Morris has gained exceptionally wide experience of business, the professions, the arts and education over a 45 year career (see: Biography). He is also a qualified coach having studied and gained a Diploma from the Academy of Executive Coaching in 2010. Drawing on these experiences and skills, Richard Morris offers coaching and mentoring services for younger people engaged in these fields of activity. He specialises in supporting those who are:-

• Reviewing alternative pathways at the early stages of their working life; or • Considering career changes; or • Undertaking new or additional responsibilities at middle or senior management level; or • Assuming leadership responsibilities as a Board member or Chief Executive of their organisation.

Coaching or mentoring arrangements are agreed ad hoc. The service may be provided for a single or multiple sessions. The sessions are normally held in central London. Initial consultations are offered free of charge. For those at the early stage of their working life further sessions may also be provided on a pro bono basis.