After graduating from Georgia Institute of Technology with an honors degree in Electrical Engineering and a minor in Communications, Rick worked in hardware and software for projects in the public sector. This work included real-time software and hardware development for short-pulse radar systems and radar simulators. He got a military clearance and participated in projects as a programmer for military communications systems, including DOD-2167 Military Software Standards.
He then moved to the private sector, taking a network engineering position at Risk Sciences Group, a division of Crawford & Company. From there, he became a technology manager at Deloitte & Touche.
When the “dot-com” boom hit, Rick joined S1, where he was part of the team for the first online bank, Security First Network Bank (SFNB). As Product Manager for the Virtual Bank Manager (VBM), S1’s online banking product, his duties included defining product requirements based on client input and marketing strategy, communicating product content, and managing product releases.
In 2003, he started TecAdvocates Solutions, which he re-branded to TecAdvocates in 2016, where he works as the founder/owner.
Rick enjoys working out and reading, especially science fiction and fantasy. Isaac Asimov is one of his favorite authors.