Paula Vennells | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Vennells in 2016 | |
| Born | Paula Anne Vennells 21 February 1959 Denton, Lancashire, England |
| Education | Manchester High School for Girls |
| Alma mater | University of Bradford (BA) |
| Occupation | |
| Known for | Post Office scandal |
| Spouse(s) |
John Wilson (m. 1994) |
| Children | 2 |
Paula Anne Vennells (born 21 February 1959) is a British former businesswoman who was the chief executive officer (CEO) of Post Office Limited from 2012 to 2019. She is also an ordained Anglican priest who ceased her clerical duties in 2021.
Vennells was the CEO of Post Office Limited during the latter part of the British Post Office scandal, in which more than 900 subpostmasters were wrongly convicted between 1999 and 2015 of theft, false accounting or fraud, owing to apparent shortfalls at their Post Office branches that were caused by flaws in Horizon, an accounting software used by the Post Office. Many more subpostmasters paid the Post Office for alleged shortfalls or had their contracts terminated. The actions of the Post Office caused the loss of jobs, bankruptcy, family breakdown, criminal convictions, prison sentences and at least four suicides. Under Vennells, the Post Office led a costly and unsuccessful attempt to defend a group action brought by subpostmasters.
In 2019 she became the chair of the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, but left the role the following year. In 2021, after the convictions of 39 subpostmasters were quashed, she resigned from her non-executive directorships at the retailer Dunelm and the supermarket chain Morrisons. Vennells had been appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2019; the honour was formally revoked in 2024 for "bringing the honours system into disrepute".