MI-MAUI provides technical support and a collective voice to local governments to improve utility services, reduce costs and influence utility regulatory processes. He was previously Executive Director of Southeast Michigan Regional Energy Office, helping municipalities in the Detroit metro region identify, finance and implement clean energy projects. 

Rick has 20 years experience in sustainable enterprise research and education, and served as managing director of the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan from 2008 to 2013.  Prior to that he was a senior fellow with the Business and Society Program of The Aspen Institute, developing corporate social responsibility and sustainability programs at business schools in China.  

From 2003 to 2005, Rick served as executive director of the Bainbridge Graduate Institute near Seattle, Washington, the first independent graduate school of sustainable business in the US. From 1996 to 2003, he was business education director at the World Resources Institute in Washington, DC, supporting the development of teaching and research programs on the environment and sustainability at business schools around the world.  Between college and graduate school, Rick worked with the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) organizations in DC, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Washington State, culminating in a three-year stint as executive director of WashPIRG. 

He continues to serve on several PIRG boards of directors in Washington and Michigan. Rick is also board Treasurer of the Michigan Environmental Council, and board Secretary of Soulardarity in Highland Park, Michigan. Rick holds an MBA with Environmental Management certificate from the University of Washington and BS in Political Science from Yale University. He and his family live in Ann Arbor, Michigan.