Richard is the Political Director of Missouri Jobs with Justice, a statewide coalition of over one hundred labor, community, faith and student organizations. In this role he works at the intersection of economic justice and democracy. For the last five years he has led the Will of the People coalition- a bipartisan network of organizations seeking to defend Missouri’s one hundred year old tradition of direct democracy- the ballot initiative
process- from legislative tampering. In addition to that Richard served as the director for the Stl Raise the Wage campaign that passed a local minimum wage that was subsequently preempted and nullified by state legislation in 2018. Richard has served in leadership roles of multiple successful ballot initiative campaigns, including repealing right to work, raising the minimum wage (twice), expanding medicaid eligibility and
campaign finance/ethics reform. Richard lives in St. Louis with his wife and two boys and when not protecting democracy or building a more inclusive economy he enjoys coaching and playing ice hockey.