Richard started his career in the 1970s, his first job in the industry was at Greymouth’s Liverpool State Mine on the West Coast of New Zealand before working in Australia for 32 years. Richard returned to Wellington, New Zealand to take up the position of Chief Operating Officer at Bathurst in 2012. He was appointed to the role of Chief Executive Officer in March 2015. He is a director of BT Mining Limited as a Bathurst representative. During this time Bathurst managed a successful acquisition of coking coal assets in New Zealand and has also expanded into British Columbia, Canada, with two projects.

Coming from an operations background, Richard worked as a miner for a decade and worked his way up the leadership ladder and holds statutory qualifications in NSW and NZ at Mine Manager and Senior Site Executive levels. 

Richard also sits on the boards of New Talisman, New Zealand Mines Rescue Trust and Straterra.