Richard Hawkes

Founder & CEO, Growth River
Author, Navigate the Swirl
Thought Leader, Change Expert

Richard founded Growth River in the US in 2007. Today it is an international consultancy with offices and partners in the US and in Germany. Growth River specializes in leading major transformational change initiatives that impact organizational culture and business models at the same time. This work is unique because of its holistic approach that reduces complexity and creates buy-in for both executives and their teams. Richard is also author of a widely-praised book, Navigate The Swirl (Wiley, 2022).

He has worked domestically and internationally with global Fortune 100, mid-sized and start-up growth companies including: Allergan, Berkley Insurance, Bonnel Aluminum, Chicos, Corning, Cox Communications, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, GENEWIZ, Gentex, Global Knowledge, Hallmark International, Hope Worldwide, Instinet, Johnson & Johnson, MARS, Merck, Navigant Consulting International, Neostem, New York Genome Center, Novartis, Pearson Education, Pfizer, PFG Group, Pharmanet, Prentice Hall, Sun Microsystems, Wrigley and WLR Foods.

Richard is currently engaged in a multi-year engagement with Edward Jones Financial Services.

Richard began his career developing margins trading systems at Morgan Stanley. He subsequently became a senior member of the strategy practice with Kepner-Tregoe International, leaving to become a partner with the Strategy Partners Group LLC. In 2002, he joined Guttman Development Strategies as a Chief Strategist. Richard received a B.A. in Computer Science and German Literature from Hamilton College and an M.B.A. in Marketing and Organizational Development from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He operated as a board member of GENEWIZ Inc. from 2007 to 2019, at which time GENEWIZ was sold.