Eric Richard

About Eric Richard

Many mid-market companies invest in innovation initiatives, yet struggle to consistently translate those efforts into scalable growth and generate meaningful ROI. The primary barrier to innovation is rarely a lack of ideas or technical capability. Inconsistent results are typically the byproduct of unclear innovation governance, fragmented initiative ownership, limited innovation portfolio visibility, and inconsistency in how innovation projects are evaluated, prioritized, and funded alongside core business investments. When innovation initiatives compete for resources on an ad hoc basis, rather than using a decision framework, the result is frequently stalled execution, misaligned capital deployment, and difficulty integrating new ventures into core business operations.In partnership with executive leadership teams, I architect governance structures and portfolio strategies that enable organizations to treat innovation as a disciplined investment portfolio. I enable leadership teams to systematically evaluate, prioritize, fund, and operationalize innovation initiatives in alignment with long-term strategic objectives.This includes developing portfolio oversight mechanisms, designing intake and advancement criteria, engineering stage-gated decision processes, establishing initiative ownership structures, and building operational integration pathways that support disciplined investment in and successful adoption of new initiatives as part of the companywide strategic plan.I serve as a strategic partner to mid-market firms through:• Strategic innovation process design• Fractional Chief Innovation Officer engagements• Innovation portfolio governance advisory• Oversight of innovation management system programsIf your organization is looking to move beyond ad-hoc innovation and toward a disciplined growth system, let\'s connect.

Experience

1. Chief Executive Officer

   Aurora Mountain Innovations

   Nov 2025 — Present · Nashville, TN, US

Education

• University of Calgary

  Bsc.

  2005 — 2010

• Vanderbilt University - Owen Graduate School of Management

  Master of Business Administration - MBA

  2017 — 2019

Skills

• Contract Negotiation
• Contract Writing
• Cad
• Shell & Tube Heat Exchangers
• Water Quality
• Technology Development
• Process Control
• Business Case Modelling
• Multiple Project Coordination
• Water Chemistry
• Engineering
• Steam Systems
• Oil
• Process Modeling
• Combustion
• Heat Transfer
• Finite Element Analysis
• Instrumentation
• Oil
• Process Engineering
• Wastewater Treatment
• Mechanical Engineering
• Business Strategy
• Gas
• Design for Manufacturing
• Presentation
• Upstream
• Cooling Water
• Project Engineering
• Progressive Thinking
• Statistical Data Analysis
• Water Engineering
• Patent Strategy
• Project Management
• Catia
• Energy Industry
• Energy
• Technology Readiness Level
• Royalties
• Financial Modeling