President and CEO of Emcore Corporation, joined EMCORE in October of 1995 as its President and Chief Operating Officer and became CEO in December, 1996.

Mr. Richards has played a pivotal role in making Emcore one of the top ten IPO's of 1997 when he took the company public. He has expanded the business into five key growth market areas and Emcore currently has a market cap of over $2 billion.

Emcore has been named one of New Jersey's Fast 50 Companies in both 1999 and 2000, and was awarded the 1999 Albert Einstein Award for a High Tech Company given in Jerusalem by Prime Minister Barak.