Richard is also the Founder and original chairman of CMF International (Christian Missionary Fund), a registered 501(c)(3) that supports missionaries around the world. He has grown the fund to over $100,000 in assets.
Richard has also served as the Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and an equity partner for a $400 million auto group in Southern California where he oversaw the financial operations of six dealerships with a total of 525 employees. During his tenure, he has established three captive insurance companies, consolidated business offices into a single office and established a warranty company that resulted in major tax savings and risk transfer benefits for the group. Richard has also created a highly successful digital document archiving system for the company, effectively eliminating physical paperwork.
Richard also held senior executive positions across a number of high-profile auto groups including Penske Auto Group, Galpin Motors, Cars Direct and Marubeni Auto Group.
Before Marubeni, Richard served as Chief Financial Officer at Penske Automotive Group where he was hired to manage a 5,000-unit in-house lease fleet and later created an accounting system to track all transactions after the company sold its lease fleet while the fleet's servicing operations. During his tenure at Penske Automotive Group, Richard led over 20 successful mergers and acquisitions.
Early in his career, Richard served as Adjunct Professor at Azusa Pacific University where he taught senior-level accounting classes, and as Senior Auditor at Peat Marwick where he worked on audits and financial statements for major companies spanning various industries.
In addition to his executive career and his two current board appointments, Richard has previously served on several boards of directors. He was a board member of the Automotive Resource Network and the Automotive Management Association for Southern California. Richard has also served on the boards of a local school and a local church.
As an automotive industry thought leader, Richard has been quoted by the press about the current regulation laws in the automotive industry. Throughout his career, he has given multiple speeches at Auto Dealers Office Managers Association (ADOMA) Conferences, as well as in Dale Carnegie classes. He has also spoken at churches on charitable giving.
Richard has earned a number of honors, awards and recognitions for his work through the years, including Top 10 Life Producer Award by Allianz Insurance Company, the Top Financial Advisor Award by The Annuity Store, the Top Financial Advisor Award of First Annuity and the Dale Carnegie Best of Class Award. As an executive leader, he has won multiple Presidents awards at auto groups he managed.
Richard obtained his Bachelors of Science in Accounting and his Bachelors of Science in Computer Science from Azusa Pacific University. He holds his Series 65 license as a Registered Investment Advisor Representative through DST Wealrth Management and his Series 7 and 63 licenses as a General Securities Registered Representative with Benchmark Investments. Richard holds life, accident, health, property and casualty insurance licenses in Texas, California, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Oklahoma, Oregon, Washington, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Virginia, and Maryland. He holds a Captive Insurance Management Accreditation from the University of Vermont and the ICCIE and is a recognized captive manager for the state of North Carolina.