Member Spotlights

July 2024

Member Spotlight

A conversation with Richard Potter, Principal Consultant, RP Corporate Relations.

Tell us about your work with the University of Georgia and what’s next on the horizon?

In April 2022 I was appointed to a two-year administrative faculty position as Director of Business Engagement and Research Collaboration. My charge was to accelerate the establishment of UGA’s newly formed Office of Business Engagement. My first assignment was an internal assessment that included interviews and focus groups with faculty who had experience with industry collaboration. We wanted to learn what they thought was working well, where the bottlenecks and roadblocks were, and how we could best serve faculty who want to be more engaged with industry. The information they shared led to the creation of a Business Engagement Toolkit for Faculty, which I’ll be presenting on at the NACRO Conference in Raleigh. The UGA appointment has been an excellent capstone for my career. I turned 65 last November, the appointment ended in June, and I’m currently in negotiations with another university for part-time contract work. It's too early for retirement – I prefer to call my next chapter “funemployment.” Doing what I want to do, when and where I want to do it.

How long have you been a NACRO member and why did you decide to become a member?

I am a “boomerang” NACRO member. I first joined in 2012 when I was hired to establish Kansas State University’s Office of Corporate Engagement. My position was based on the 2011 NACRO White Paper, “Five Essential Elements of a Successful 21st Century University Corporate Relations Program,” so joining NACRO was a no-brainer. I was active until 2016, when an executive recruiter lured me away to serve as Executive Director of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Foundation. That’s where I was working when UGA came calling, and once again it was a no-brainer to renew my NACRO membership in 2022. The network of fellow corporate relations professionals has been an invaluable resource as I worked with UGA colleagues to establish and promote the new Office of Business Engagement.

Can you provide an example of how NACRO has helped you in your everyday work?

I am not exaggerating when I say that the issue of Indirect Costs (aka overhead, F&A) came up in every faculty interview and focus group I facilitated. The NACRO network allowed me to reach out to colleagues in other institutions and learn how they were helping faculty and industry better understand IDC and the mystery that surrounds it. These conversations informed a three-page IDC Overview that I created as part of the Business Engagement Toolkit for Faculty, as well as a NACRO webinar and panel discussion that I facilitated at last year’s NACRO Conference in Portland.

Tell us about the most unique company visit you hosted. What made it so unique, and did you have fun?

In the spring of 2016 I hosted the Chief Scientific Officer of PepsiCo for a K-State campus visit. He had agreed to present the annual Landon Lecture, after which he joined a small group of K-Staters for dinner in downtown Manhattan, KS (aka the Little Apple). The weather took a turn for the worse and tornado sirens went off just after the wine was served. The restaurant maitre d’ led us around the corner, down an old set of concrete stairs, through a heavy door and into an honest-to-goodness speakeasy from the days of prohibition. It had been refurbished for private parties and, on nights like this, also served as a tornado shelter. Not only was it fun (we laughed a lot that night), but the campus visit opened the door to a $500,000 grant to support multidisciplinary undergraduate research projects. Win win win!

How long have you been in corporate relations? Can you tell us a little more about your career?

My first position in higher education was Director for Alumni & Corporate Relations at the University of Dubuque, where I was able to earn my MBA thanks to 100% tuition remission. In 1996 I moved with my family to Kansas City and joined the national Nonprofit Leadership Alliance as Vice President for Development & Communications. That’s where I began to hone my skills in corporate and foundation relations, closing five-, six-, and seven- figure gifts from companies like Mutual of America, American Express, Coca-Cola, the UPS Foundation, and the WK Kellogg Foundation. I spent 13 years with the organization, then worked as an independent consultant for a couple of years before moving on to K-State. My corporate relations work spans four decades, three universities, and two national nonprofits. It allowed my wife the choice to be a full-time mom for our children. It granted me the freedom, outside of 9 to 5, to express my creativity as a writer and guitarist. And it generated ample income to build our investment portfolio and support the causes we care about.

Fun Question: What’s something about you (a fun fact) that not many people know?

A few years ago I got a Facebook message from a high school classmate. He was on the planning committee for our 45th high school reunion and asked if we might “put the band back together” and perform. We said yes and had so much fun the class of 1978 asked if we’d come back and play for their reunion. We said yes again, added four musicians from their class to the band, and more than doubled the fun!. This year we’re playing a benefit concert in a refurbished 19th century opera house in our hometown, raising funds to support a music excellence program for the school district. We surpassed our $7000 goal in May; now we’re within spitting distance of our stretch goal of $10,000. Like my guitar hero Joe Walsh said, “Life’s been good to me so far.”