Rick has served the public sector for over 38 years. He began his Federal civilian career working for the U.S. General Accounting Office (now the Government Accountability Office) in Los Angeles in 1967. In 1968, his civilian career was interrupted for a tour with the U.S. Army, which included a year in Vietnam. In 1970, he returned to the GAO. His career then moved on to the Department of Energy, the U.S. Air Force, and the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS). Since 1998, Rick has been with the Department of the Interior (DOI). As a Certified Public Accountant, Rick brought to each position he held an exceptional level of knowledge and professionalism. In 1999, Rick was instrumental in the merger of the Washington Administrative Service Center, the Interior Service Center, and the Denver Administrative Service Center to form the NBC. This accomplishment adds to a long list of Rick's achievements, including Director of Accounting in support of the U.S. Air Force, Director of Security Assistance Accounting, Division Chief for Military Pay Operations for the U.S. Air Force, and Resource Manager for the DFAS Denver Center during establishment of the Defense Accounting and Finance Service.

During the past few years, Rick successfully led the DOI's efforts to support one of the President's Management Agenda's critical e-Gov efforts. With Rick's positive guidance and direction, he ensured that the DOI's participation in the e-Payroll Initiative was successful. From a field of over 26 Federal agencies, the NBC was selected by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to be one of four e-Payroll providers. Then, under Rick's precise headship, the NBC successfully migrated four agencies onto the NBC's Federal Personnel Payroll System (FPPS). The successful migration of these agencies onto the FPPS was a large technical achievement, as well as a significant business process and cultural transformation.

Most recently, with Rick's leadership and focus, the NBC was selected as one of five Human Resources Line of Business (HR LoB) Shared Service Centers (SSC) for the Federal Government. The selection process was a competition held by the Human Resource Managing Partner and the OPM, with support from the Office of Management and Budget. Operating as an SSC, the NBC will continue to grow and to provide quality services. Because of the NBC's continued growth, the NBC's customers will benefit from the aggregated economies of scale, streamlined HR services, and state-of-the-art technology.

Additionally, Rick has volunteered over the years and served in many capacities to include chapter president for the Association of Government Accountants and the American Society of Military Comptrollers, Treasurer of a chapter of the Air Force Association, Chairman of the Board of a Federal Credit Union, member of the Denver Federal Executive Board, member of the Denver Combined Federal Campaign Council, and as a Boy Scouts of America Troop Committee Chairman.

With his upcoming retirement, Rick is looking forward to spending time traveling for pleasure to all of those places he has yet to visit, such as Alaska, Italy, and Bora Bora; having time to once again take up the water color paint brush; learning to frame paintings; enjoying his new home; and most important, having more time to spend with friends, his three children and his bride, Gerry.

The NBC family wishes Rick and his family many happy, fun, and exciting years ahead!