Colonel Richards completed a highly successful 27 year Air Force career in September 1995 after serving in a variety of senior staff and command positions. He is a native of Washington DC and was born at Bolling Air Force Base where, 45 years later, he would return to be its Wing Commander. As the son of a career Air Force Officer, his early years were spent living both overseas and throughout the United States. Colonel Richards entered the Air Force in June 1968 as a Distinguished Graduate of The Ohio State University ROTC program.
His first assignment was as a member of the Air Force Olympic Pistol Team at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. This sparked a career-long long involvement in Air Force competitive marksmanship where he served as Program Director and Team Captain of the All-Air Force Shooting Team from 1973 to 1995. From 1971 to 1986 Colonel Richards served in a variety of personnel staff positions in Turkey, Texas, California, and at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.
From 1987 until his retirement in 1995, Colonel Richards served in senior command, General Officer positions including Director for Manpower, Personnel & Support (J-1) for the US Pacific Command in Honolulu, Hawaii; Commander of the Air Force Officer Training School at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas; Commander of the Air Force District of Washington, Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, DC and Commander of the 11th Wing, also at Bolling Air Force Base. Colonel Richards’ final assignment was as Director of MWR and Services at the Pentagon in Washington, DC. Colonel Richards was the first non-flying officer to command the prestigious Air Force Officer Training School as well as the Air Force District of Washington and the 11th Wing.
In 1979 at the age of 33, Colonel Richards was recognized as the Air Force Personnel Manager of the Year and in 1983 when promoted to the rank of Colonel at age 36, he was the youngest Colonel serving in the Air Force.
Upon leaving the Air Force in 1995, Richards became the Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of The Dominion Country Club in San Antonio, Texas where he worked until August 2006 when it was sold to a regional investment group. From 2006 to 2010 he served as the Director of New Business Development and Marketing for Southbay Partners, a Dallas based national developer of senior housing properties. During this period, he created a new concept in retirement living targeting the nation’s 70 million baby boomers featuring never before seen services and amenities designed around a country club experience.
In April 2011, Colonel Richards was recruited by NBA All-Star and Hall of Fame member David Robinson to be the CEO of The Carver Academy, a private school Robinson founded providing a life-changing education for African-American children in San Antonio’s inner-city. Unfortunately, Mr. Robinson made an unexpected decision in September of that same year to terminate his involvement with the school and to deed its rights to a national charter school corporation.
Colonel Richards was immediately recruited by local businessman and philanthropist Gordon Hartman to fill a new position as Mr. Hartman’s Chief Operating Officer. As COO, his areas of responsibility included direct management and oversight of four non-profit enterprises: Morgan’s Wonderland – a 28 acre family oriented theme park; The STAR Soccer Complex; The Monarch Academy – school for children with special needs; and Toyota Field – a sports and entertainment complex home to the San Antonio Scorpions professional soccer team. In this capacity, Richards was also responsible for two for-profit businesses: The San Antonio Scorpions professional soccer team and Wonderland Concessions, the concession services company at Toyota Field and the STAR Soccer Complex.
Colonel Richards holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from The Ohio State University and a Master of Arts Degree in International Relations from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. He is a 1989 graduate of the Advanced Management Program at the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University and in 1986 he was one of only 100 individuals selected from throughout the Federal Government to attend The National War College in Washington, DC — a 12 month, Masters Degree level program in Foreign Policy and National Security.
Colonel Richards has been active in Olympic Sports for over 45 years having served on the Board of Directors of the United States Olympic Committee for eight years and President of USA Pentathlon and USA Shooting — the National Governing Bodies for those respective Olympic sports. He was also a member of the 2004 United States Olympic Team in Athens, Greece and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the United States Olympic Foundation overseeing an endowment in excess of $250,000,000.
Colonel Richards is actively involved in the San Antonio community having served as a Commissioner on the San Antonio Convention and Visitors Commission and is a member of the Board of Directors of the San Antonio Sports. From 1996 until 2003, he served as President of Any Baby Can, a non-profit agency providing assistance to families of children with critical health issues. In 2004, he was honored with the “Wonder of The Child Award” given to only five individuals in the past 25 years for their contributions to the agency.
His wife Susann is a teaching professional with over 40 years experience as a teacher and school administrator. They have two married children. Their daughter Cristy is an aerospace engineer with Raytheon Corporation in Tucson, Arizona and also holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force Reserve currently serving as a Flight Test Engineer. Their son Glen retired from the Air Force in 2015 after a distinguished 21 year career as an F-16 and F-22 fighter pilot and who is now flying for Delta Airlines.
