Richard develops and strengthens strategic partnerships with community organizations to equip, empower, and engage persons to transform communities where people live, learn, work, worship and play.  

With over twenty years of combined community engagement and higher education experience, he works to deepen IU Indianapolis’s involvement with underrepresented groups through economic development activities, community relations and alumni programs. 

What he enjoys about his position is the multifaceted nature of translating and interpreting the mission and vision of the university that intersect with Indianapolis communities and citizens' aspirations for a better quality of life, fostering relationships and partnerships to address a multitude of concerns that are aimed at justice and equity. 

He earned Bachelor’s of Science and a Master’s of Education from Ohio University, as well as a Master of Divinity degree from Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis.   

Richard is a member of the inaugural cohort of women and men pursuing a PhD in African American Preaching and Sacred Rhetoric at Christian Theological Seminary, which aim to create a cadre of scholars to study, write, and teach the distinctiveness, genius, models, modes of excellence, and future trends of black preaching for the 21st Century and beyond.

Richard mentors college students, serves on various committees on the IU Indianapolis campus and in the central Indiana community. 

Richard has been married for 25 years. He has three children and is learning to play golf.