Consumer Growth Partners Team

Richard is the Managing Partner of Consumer Growth Partners (CGP), an Independent Sponsor with an exclusive focus on middle-market specialty retail and non-perishable branded consumer products companies. Prior to co-founding CGP in 2005, Richard spent 16 years as a top ranked sell-side equity research analyst at Sanford Bernstein, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse, covering the specialty retail and discretionary consumer products sectors. Previously, he spent 6 years in the merchandising organization at Bloomingdale’s and began his career as a strategy consultant with The Boston Consulting Group. Richard currently serves as Chairman of the Retail Marketing Society, a not-for-profit organization that focuses on bringing leading edge topics of interest to the broad retail community via a series of monthly webinars and in-person events. He also serves as a Board Director for Chair King/Fortunoff Backyard Stores, Factory Connection, Inc., and Rolla Coster, Inc. He served as a board director of Vera Bradley, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRA) for nine years before stepping down in 2020. In 2023 he was selected by iGlobal Forum as their inaugural recipient of the Independent Sponsor Lifetime Achievement Award. Richard earned a BA degree in Economics from the University of Michigan where he graduated magna cum laude with Phi Beta Kappa honors and a JD degree from Harvard Law School. He lives in a suburb of New York City with his wife Robin, a medical school admissions dean. He is also the proud father of two young men, Zachary an attorney in Washington, DC and Ross a musical theatre composer and songwriter in New York City.