Rick has more than thirty years’ experience as a successful entrepreneur, company creator, active lead investor and venture capitalist. Rick is a co-founder of and advisor to VectorPoint Ventures and on the Investment Committee of the VectorPoint Impact Partners fund. Rick is also currently Founder and President of Pillar Management, an Oregon based group of seasoned professional investors and entrepreneurs who have made active investments in over fifty companies primarily based in the Northwest. Pillar Management has been responsible for raising over $130 million and assists its portfolio companies through operations, strategic planning, developing management teams, serving on boards and advisory boards, strategic alliances and capital expansion. He has been involved in successful initial public stock offerings and mergers and acquisitions, resulting in many positive liquidity events.

Rick is a co-founder and former Director of Metro One Telecommunications, an Oregon based NASDAQ Company. Rick was instrumental in helping the company grow from a start-up to a nationwide company with revenues approaching $300 million. He helped pioneer enhanced directory assistance which served two thirds of the US population, employing over 7,000 people as 31 branch locations throughout the United States. During Rick’s involvement with the company, Metro One achieved a market capitalization of well over $1 billion and provided exceptional returns to its investors. Metro One was named one of the most outstanding and fastest growing companies by both Forbes and Fortune Magazine.

His past experience includes extensive national, retail and wholesale management with companies including Revlon, Johnson and Johnson and American Hospital. He developed national operations including licensing and distribution rights throughout the United States. In addition, Rick helped expand several companies internationally. He also founded and served as President and CEO of Northwest Cardiac Instruments and Hear-Tel, which became a leading telecommunications company for the deaf and hearing impaired.

For a few years Rick served on the board of the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network where he was also the Vice Chairman of Angel Oregon in 2002 and Chairman in 2003, overseeing the largest and more successful private investor meeting held in the Northwest at the time. He also has served on the boards of the Oregon Sports Authority and Stadium Finance Committee. An active sports fan for many years, he has previously invested capital in the sports industry, becoming a founding investor and a minority owner of a national sports league in the 1990’s.

Rick attended the University of Oregon and Portland State University. He successfully developed seminars and programs to assist entrepreneur’s education and management expertise and is a frequent guest speaker at business conferences. Included among the highlights of his boards and community participation is a longtime involvement with the earliest Oregon angel investment groups, the Portland Venture Group and the Portland Angel Network. Rick is also involved in a mentoring program through the Boys and Girls Aid Society, and is a volunteer for the Northwest Pilot Project, an advocacy organization for the elderly. He has served on the boards of Committed Partners for Youth at Risk, Friends of the American Cancer Society and Meals On Wheels Lake Oswego.