John Richards

John is an Advisory Partner & Principal of the New England Consulting Group, and a key member of our retail and hospitality practices teams.

John brings over 20 years of general management and consulting experience with such iconic brands as Procter & Gamble, Heinz, Four Seasons Hotels, Starbucks, Dean & Deluca and Elizabeth Arden Red Door. John’s consulting work focuses on creating innovative growth strategies for consumer driven brands and assisting clients in building new channels of distribution and web based businesses.

As an executive, John has structured and built several successful multi-divisional organizations in high growth hospitality and foodservice businesses. He brings the practical insight and focus on results of an operating executive to his organization strategy work.

Prior to joining the New England Consulting Group, John was Chief Executive Officer of Elizabeth Arden Red Door where he led the rejuvenation and growth of the iconic service brand, and Dean & DeLuca where he led the development of its e-commerce platform. John served as President of North American Operations for Starbucks Coffee Company during its explosive initial growth period and was Executive Vice President at Four Seasons Hotels overseeing its brand development as it grew from 8 to 40 hotels worldwide.

John’s personal interests center on health, education and human services. He is a past board member of Equinox Fitness and currently serves on the Board of Life Time Fitness (NYSE: LTM). He supports the Halfway House of Rochester, NY founded by his father the Rev. Thomas B. Richards.

John brings classic “academy training” to his work with early stints at Procter & Gamble and McKinsey. He has a BA from Bucknell University where he started on the school’s first championship D-1 Lacrosse team. He has an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a Public Policy and Honeywell common market fellow.