Rick holds an MBA from the Ross School of business and has served as an adjunct assistant professor of tax and accounting at the University of Michigan. After graduation, Rick joined the tax department of Coopers & Lybrand, now PricewaterhouseCoopers, in Detroit, as a CPA and became a Partner within five years. From 1991 to 1997, Rick served as Executive Vice President—and then President and COO—of Gateway, Inc. During his tenure at Gateway, the company grew from a privately-held $600 million company with less than 1,000 employees, to a publicly-traded (NYSE) Fortune 500 company with revenues in excess of $6 billion and over 10,000 employees.
In 1997, Rick left Gateway and returned home to Michigan so that he could utilize his experience to reinvigorate the Michigan economy and raise his family here. He invested back into his home state by founding Avalon Investments, Inc., a venture-capital firm focused on new technology. Over three years, Avalon invested in 24 companies in Michigan and around the United States.
After a successful capital raise of $103 million, Rick co-founded Ardesta in 2000, becoming Chairman and CEO of one of the nation’s largest investment firms focused on micro and nanotechnology. Ardesta has eight companies spread across Michigan and the United States developing small technology products in fields ranging from life-science to clean technology and communications.
In order to give back to his community, Rick served as founding Chairman of Ann Arbor SPARK, the economic development organization for the Ann Arbor region. In addition, Rick is currently active on the board of directors or advisory boards of several privately held companies and community and educational organizations, including The Henry Ford, The Nature Conservancy–Michigan Chapter, the New Economy Initiative, the Bank of Ann Arbor, and The University of Michigan. Previous boards included the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (Chair), and the Sphinx Organization. Rick is also a member of the Michigan Bar Association.
