Dr Simon Longstaff is the Executive Director of The St James Ethics Centre. Established in 1989, the Centre is an independent forum, based in Sydney and Melbourne, for the promotion of business and professional ethics. Operating both in Australia and abroad, the Centre provides a neutral, confidential setting in which ethical questions can be raised, ethical problems explored, and ethical dilemmas resolved. One of the Executive Director's roles is to encourage the process of integrating ethical considerations into the strategic thinking of the management community and those who advise and regulate them.

Having completed his secondary education at Knox Grammar School in Sydney, Dr Longstaff spent time working on Groote Eylandt in the Safety Department of BHP subsidiary, GEMCO. Following his time in the Northern Territory he returned to take up full-time study, completing a Bachelor's Degree in Education in Tasmania.

Simon Longstaff spent five years studying and working as a member of Magdalene College, Cambridge, before returning to Australia in mid-1991. Having won scholarships to study at Cambridge, he read for the degrees of Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy. His research centred on related questions arising in the areas of political philosophy, ethics and the philosophy of education. Prior to returning to Australia, Dr Longstaff was lecturing at Cambridge and was working as consultant to the Cambridge Commonwealth and Overseas Trusts.

Dr Longstaff was inaugural President of The Australian Association for Professional & Applied Ethics and is a Director of a number of companies. His first book, Hard Cases, Tough Choices was published in 1997. He is currently preparing a second on the role of conscience. Simon Longstaff is a columnist for The Australian.

Dr Longstaff serves on a number of committees, some of which include:

• Accountants Superannuation Fund Nominees Pty Ltd
• Advertising Federation of Australia (AFA) Ethics Working Party, Chairman
• Professional Standards Council, NSW and WA
• Australian Commercial Disputes Centre Limited: Mediator Accreditation Board, Chairman
• BHP, Global Conduct Committee
• Energy Australia, Ethics Committee
• MLC Life, Code of Conduct Committee, Independent Chairman
• National Professional Engineers Registration Board
• SW Department of Corrective Services, Ethics Committee