Richard joined First National in 2012, bringing with him an extensive background in the derivatives area based on nearly two decades of conducting commodity supply/demand analysis for the M&M/Mars Corporation, as well as implementing hedging methodologies for controlling the cost of raw materials. During his tenure as CEO and Commodity Trading Advisor at Burlington Hall Asset Management, he developed both the DynaPorte dynamic asset allocation system and the LaPorte asset allocation system.
Earlier in his career, Richard worked at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, where he developed real-time simulators used in the training of NASA astronauts. Richard has an undergraduate degree in physics from Loyola University in Chicago as well as a Masters Degree in operations research from the University of Houston.