Richard joined Alfa Capital Partners , Alfa Group's Private Equity Arm in November 2003. He is overall responsible for building and managing the business, recruiting the team, designing and launching funds, setting the investment strategy, and directing the investment process.

Alfa Capital Partners is a Moscow based private equity and real estate investment firm that manages and advises aggregate capital commitments of US$545 m.

From 1994 to 1997 Richard co-founded and acted as the senior manager of Baring Asset Management's US$160 million First NIS Regional Fund, SICAF, the fund that was a predecessor to the current Baring Vostok funds. At Barings, he designed the investment strategy and the investment process and directed the investment team to invest the fund in two years. Richard's direct investment track record in Russia includes personally led investments in VimpelCom, Golden Telecom, Borjomi, Burren Energy, Global Telesis, Volgatanker and Alfa Cement.

Prior to Barings, Richard also worked in Moscow with Batterymarch Financial Management as a Director in its initiative focused on military conversion and with the EBRD in its privatisation and restructuring team as a consultant and principal banker. From 1984 to 1987 Richard was a strategy consultant with Bain & Company in Boston , MA and from 1989 to 1991 Richard was Vice President at Amara Capital in Boston.

Richard subsequently worked with CIBC Oppenheimer & Co. in Russia through late 1999. From 1999 to early 2003 Richard held various senior executive positions with New York‑based PartMiner, Inc.

Richard is an American national and a fluent Russian speaker, with an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelors degree in Economics from Stanford University.