Rich is a 25-year veteran of corporate America working in various sales, marketing, operations, and training functions for such organizations as GE Corporate, GE Capital, Fidelity Investments and Thomson Financial. In addition, he has worked as a Sports Producer for an ABC affiliate, participated in NBC's highly selective Page Program (he was on Late Night with David Letterman eating ice cream), started a non-profit organization, and successfully helped build a social media based start-up company that was acquired by investors. Most recently Rich was asked and certified by The LEGO Group to be part of LEGO Education's Master Trainer Academy.
He is the author of two books, Mustard Doesn’t Go On Corn! – how respect, openness, and a simple process for innovation can lead to great ideas and the children’s book Siamese Sam and the Things He Will Eat! 100% percent of the proceeds from Siamese Sam go to literacy programs for children.
He has appeared on numerous radio stations such as WBZ in Boston, Massachusetts, WPRO in Providence, Rhode Island and WFLA, in Tampa, Florida discussing his approach to innovation. He also has been interviewed by Investors’ Business Daily as an expert on innovation and has been featured in media outlets such as Forbes.com, CBS Marketwatch, Yahoo Finance, DallasMorningNews.com, KRON.com in San Francisco, and The Innovative Forum.
Rich has worked with numerous companies on innovation including Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, AIG, Citigroup, Monster.com, and The Dana Farber Cancer Institute. In addition, he has been a featured speaker for the Human Resource Management Association of Rhode Island, The Boston Network for Excellence in Nonprofits, and the American Society of Training and Development. He is also a member of the MIT Enterprise Forum in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Rich holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a Masters degree in Educational Technology from Columbia University in New York. He lives in Acton, Massachusetts with his wife and two daughters who continuously reinforce to him the joy of focusing on what is possible.