Rick is an attorney and environmentalist currently serving as a consultant to American Forests for the Carolina Piedmont Green Initiative. This initiative quantifies change to tree canopy, open space and impervious cover in the NC piedmont region during the past 20 years and the impacts of these changes to air quality, water quality and storm water management. He recently worked as the project consultant to produce the Voices & Choices State of the Region Report which was a detailed study of the 15 county Charlotte Region that published data on the region's health in six topic areas: Economy, Transportation, Air Quality, Land Use, Water Quality, and Municipal Solid Waste.

Active for many years in the Charlotte Region on environmental matters, Rick was Conservation Chair for the Sierra Club, Central Piedmont Group and has served on numerous community stakeholder groups representing the environmental community. Rick chaired the Charlotte Tree Advisory Commission for six years and now chairs the Charlotte Public Tree Fund. Rick was the Executive Director of the Catawba River Foundation in 2002.

Rick's legal background includes working as a solo practitioner and with a large law firm as a corporate lawyer focusing on business issues and intellectual property. Rick also worked as an Adjunct Professor at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida, teaching business law. Prior to practicing law, Rick worked as an executive with AT&T for 14 years.

Rick holds a Bachelor of Science Degree with honors from Florida Atlantic University and a Juris Doctor Degree cum laude from the University of Miami School of Law. Rick is a member of the Florida, North Carolina and Mecklenburg County Bar Associations and is a frequent writer and speaker on environmental and sustainable growth issues.