Richard completed his BScOptom degree from the University of Melbourne in 1984 and a MBA from the same institution in 1991. He was Head of Contact Lens Clinics at the Victorian College of Optometry from 1989 to 1998 and a Senior Fellow in the Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences at the University of Melbourne from 1992 to 2007. Richard has also previously been a Visiting Lecturer in the School of Optometry at the University of New South Wales.

Richard worked as a Volunteer Optometrist in the Village Polyclinic at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and he was the Optometry Coordinator for the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games Village Polyclinic.

Richard is a Diplomate of the Cornea and Contact Lens Section of the American Academy of Optometry and he is a Past-President and a Founding Fellow of the Cornea and Contact Lens Society of Australia. Richard is renowned internationally as an expert in the field of contact lenses.