Rick is a resident of Austin, Texas and is heavily involved in the Austin start-up community. He is the Board Chairman and member of the Central Texas Angel Network (CTAN). He has invested in over 24 start-up companies in Austin since 2009 and has assisted many entrepreneurs with thoughts and recommendations.

He brings with him 35 years of experience in financial management and strategic guidance from two Fortune 100 technology companies, Rick served as Vice President, Corporate Controller and Assistant CFO of finance at networking technology leader Cisco Systems from 1995 to 2007.  There he was instrumental in developing and implementing an e-culture of financial reporting across all of Cisco’s worldwide operations. When he arrived in 1996 it took Cisco 21 days to close its monthly reporting books.  He reduced that task under his leadership to 1 day.

Previous to Cisco, Rick served as Vice President of finance for Motorola, where he had worldwide financial responsibility for the Semiconductor division for 23 years.  He also was the CFO for Motorola Japan and lived in Tokyo for 6 years in developing Motorola’s cellular operations in Japan, which experienced explosive growth from $200 million to over $2.5 billion.

In addition to his operational experience, Rick has also worked with numerous top tier venture firms from across the country.

Rick is also a Board member in three companies: two public and one private.  Rick previously served on four other public company Boards and six private company Boards. Rick holds a B.S. degree in accounting and finance from the University of Arizona, an M.B.A. degree from St. Edward’s University, and was previously a Certified Public Accountant.