Richard is the CEO of Piedmont Community Health Plan. Piedmont is a for-profit subsidiary of Centra that provides health insurance to individuals and companies in the region and beyond.
He joined that company as chief executive in 2016 and has been responsible for modernizing its infrastructure, strengthening its workforce, and – most recently – gaining approval for a multi-million dollar investment in new technology to promote growth. He will return to this role as soon as Centra hires a permanent CEO.
Prior to joining PCHP and Centra, Richard was Vice President and General Counsel of Fleet Laboratories – a well-known international consumer healthcare company, originally headquartered in Lynchburg that has since been acquired by Prestige Consumer Healthcare.
Richard served on Fleet’s executive leadership team and was an advisor to the company’s board of directors; a member of its Mergers & Acquisitions, Fiduciary and Regulatory committees; and corporate secretary. His broad range of responsibilities included legal, compliance, risk management, regulatory, product liability, and mergers and acquisitions. Richard also oversaw contract litigation, insurance, human resources, medical affairs and Fleet’s intellectual property portfolio.
Whilst at Fleet, Richard helped lead efforts to purchase new brands, along with the divestiture of close to $200 million in international subsidiary businesses. He was responsible for the successful $450 million resolution of more than 1,000 liability claims against one of the company’s healthcare franchises.
During his career, Richard also has held leadership roles at insurance and financial companies in both England and the United States and has privately practiced law in both countries. He is the author of a number of articles on insurance-related legal topics.
Richard holds a bachelor of law degree – with honors – from the University of Kent at Canterbury, England and a masters in law from the Tulane University Law School. He is admitted to practice law in Virginia, England and Wales. Richard is also a member of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers.
Richard lives in Lynchburg with his wife, Jenny. The couple has two children. Christopher now working in Texas, who recently completed a bio-medical engineering degree at Georgia Tech and Lizzie who attends the College of Nursing at the University of Virginia.