Richard is a veteran of the electrical utility industry and has served in various leadership role for the last 30 years at Southern Company. He is current a R&D Program Manager in the Net Zero Technologies Group at the National Carbon Capture Center. Prior to Southern Company, he served as an environmental regulator in the Water Division at the Alabama Department of Environmental Management. Richard is a subject matter expert with a wide range of policy, technology, and regulatory issues related to carbon capture and storage, geothermal power, hydrogen storage, wastewater injection, and deep borehole isolation of spent nuclear fuel. He has a diverse academic background with a B.S. and M.S. degree in Geology, a M.S. in Environmental Management, and a Ph.D. in Engineering. He has published extensively and lectured internationally on a wide range of energy related issues.