Richard’s executive career spanned legal, governance, risk, sustainability, business ethics and compliance. His career in legal management and governance extends over 20 years and he was General Counsel and Company Secretary of FTSE 100 companies for 14 years. Now in his portfolio career, Richard is a certified coach and accredited mediator. He has invested in and supported early-stage businesses, and was co-founder of a legal tech start-up which was successfully developed and sold. Richard has a lifelong interest in the arts, having served as a Trustee or Chair of arts charities. He is a Council Member of the National Secular Society.
Until 2018, Richard was Group General Counsel at Ferguson plc, a $20bn+ turnover wholesale distributor of plumbing and building materials, with a substantial B2C operation in the US where it now has its primary listing. As a member of the Executive Committee he was responsible for legal affairs, corporate governance, business ethics and compliance, enterprise risk management, product integrity and corporate responsibility.
Previously, Richard was Company Secretary and General Counsel at Corus Group, the FTSE 100 steel company. After its acquisition by Tata Steel in 2007 he worked on the post-acquisition integration process. Before Corus, Richard worked on the upstream oil and gas industry in the UK, Russia, Kazakhstan, US and other regions, negotiating joint ventures and inward investment agreements and serving on or chairing industry committees. He lived for a time in Italy, where he was General Counsel at Agip, the Exploration and Production division of ENI, the Italian multinational integrated energy company. He started his career as a corporate lawyer at Freshfields in London.
