Since 1998, Richard has been a managing partner at Tombaugh Purnell & Associates. TP&A provides consulting services primarily to nonprofit organizations: Vision – imagining the future, People – focusing the talents and energy of staff and volunteers, and Money – developing an entrepreneurial spirit. Clients have included a multimillion-dollar national fundraising organization, a prestigious divinity school, an electrical contracting company, two Episcopal dioceses, and many Episcopal churches.
From 2001 to 2010, he served as executive secretary of The General Board of Examining Chaplains. GBEC is a board of 22 bishops, priests, academicians, and laity elected by the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church and charged with preparing, administering, and evaluating the General Ordination Examination given annually to approximately 300 persons desiring to be ordained to the priesthood.
From 1986 to 1998, Richard was canon to the ordinary (executive assistant to the bishop) of the diocese of Connecticut. Responsibilities included crisis management, congregational development, strategic planning, clergy development and deployment, coordination of communication, and public relations.