Richard is the Vice President for Policy and co-founder of the American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC), which represents over 225,000 companies. He spends time on Capitol Hill, the White House, federal regulatory agencies and state legislatures advocating for policy change on issues ranging from climate change to family medical leave insurance to climate change.
From 2005 to 2009, Richard served as the Business Outreach Director for the ground breaking multi stakeholder Apollo Alliance. He worked in the solar energy industry for ten years advocating for state legislation and regulations to create new markets. He consulted to the UN Environment Programme where he developed a series of conferences addressing sustainable and social development programs. In 1992, he attended the Earth Summit in Rio de Janiero and in 2015 participated in the Paris Climate Summit.
Richard has worked in the sustainable business field and on progressive business issues for thirty years. He co-directed the Colorado chapter of the Clean Tech for Obama campaign and advised candidate (Governor) Bill Ritter on renewable energy issues. He earned a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is now an adjunct faculty at the University of Denver and lives in Denver.