Richard Ricks is the founder of Silver Tree Consulting & Services, formed to serve and empower youth who are underserved because of the passion and life experiences of the Ricks family, including humble beginnings and a beautiful son and brother, Patrick, who was born with disabilities. Richard founded Silver Tree Consulting & Services in order to establish a foundation to donate 50% of its profits to this cause – a lifelong dream of Richard Ricks. He is responsible for the company’s strategic plan, consulting partners and assuring client relationships are excellent. He is a highly accomplished information technology and services executive who has led many successful transformations. As previous CIO of Nortel Networks and president of many divisions of CSC’s commercial businesses, he is recognized for his leadership in driving business, operations, and technology transformations that deliver excellent results – True Value. Richard received an Executive Business Diploma from Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and N.C. State University Mechanical Engineering. He received post-graduate training in negotiations from Harvard Business School. Richard is very involved in the community as an elder at his local church. He is married to Janice Ricks. They have two children, their son, who is with the Lord and Melissa Ricks.