Rich began his career as a high school teacher. That start embedded a conviction that has carried into every role since. Getting people aligned around a shared understanding is as much a part of the work as solving the problem itself. Building practices and frameworks only matters if the people around you understand and believe in them too.

In the classroom today

Rich is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Denver, teaching courses that reflect both sides of his career.

Agile Practices and Techniques in Project Management looks past the tactical mechanics of agile delivery toward the harder strategic question: when agile is the right fit for an organization, when traditional methods still make more sense, and what it actually takes to shift a culture rather than just a process.

Strategic Application of AI in IT is not a course about learning AI tools in isolation. Students build the strategic and practical skills to lead AI initiatives inside real organizations, from assessing organizational maturity and identifying high-value opportunities to managing risk and designing roadmaps that connect AI capability to measurable business outcomes. Students are required to use AI throughout the course, but within a framework that emphasizes judgment, accountability, and responsible use over output. The goal is graduates who can integrate AI into an organization's strategy and deliver tangible results, not just deploy a technology.

Beyond the classroom

Rich has spoken at the Gartner PMO Symposium, where he presented on building process maturity and delivery discipline inside a large organization navigating enterprise disruption and transformation. That work, establishing new practices during a period of significant organizational change, is the same pattern he returns to now in AI advisory engagements.

He has been a guest lecturer for graduate level sessions at Syracuse University and the Colorado School of Mines, speaking on the realities of project management in large corporate environments and the strategic application of agile practices.

He has designed and led full-day workshops for organizational leadership teams navigating practice adoption and culture change and facilitated multi-month individualized coaching programs working with team members to reinforce practices and enable growth.

He has been invited to speak to senior leadership and board-level audiences.

He previously served on the University of Denver's College of Professional Studies IT and AI Advisory Boards.