Ronald B. Richard to receive Otis Social Justice Award

Ronald Richard, president and CEO of The Cleveland Foundation, will receive the Otis Social Justice Award on Thursday, October 18 at 7:30 p.m. in the Hindle Auditorium.

Richard, as head of The Cleveland Foundation, helps to improve public schools, early childhood development, human services, neighborhoods and housing, arts, as well as healthcare and the environment. The Cleveland Foundation provides area leadership through endowments for public needs and initiative grants, which is funded by local donations that are redistributed into the community. He also serves on the board of the International Biomedical Research Alliance, a venture between National Institute of Health-Oxford and Cambridge Universities.

Prior to joining the Foundation, Richard was chief operating officer and managing partner of the CIA's venture capital fund, In-Q-Tel, where he delivered new technologies to the U.S. intelligence community. Before In-Q-Tel, Richard spent thirteen years at Matsushita Electric (Panasonic) in various management positions including president of both Panasonic's Home and Commercial Products Company and their Strategic Ventures Company.

Richard has been appointed to many Cleveland based boards, including the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture, the Ohio Business Development Coalition, the Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital National Leadership Council and the Friends of the Mentally Retarded Campaign Committee. He chaired the Ohio Grantmakers Forum's Task Force on education reform. He was also on the Spelmen College board of trustees, the Landegger Program in International Business Diplomacy at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service's board of advisors and was a visiting professor of international business at Bennett College in spring 2003.

Richard began his career as director of the national public affairs program at Japan Society, a New York non-profit, and later worked as a U.S. diplomat, serving at the American Consulate General in Japan and the U.S. Department of State in Washington D.C. He received a bachelor's degree in history from Washington University in St. Louis, a master's degree in international relations from John Hopkins University and an honorary doctorate from Notre Dame College.

The Otis Social Justice Award honors the men and women who motivate communities to unite in action. These individuals work to create a more just society: promoting peace, human rights, economic parity and the protection of children. Past recipients of the award have included Harvard Professor of Law Charles J. Ogletree and Senator Edward M. Kennedy.