Employee Profile: Chris Richard

Chris Richard has been part of Concept2’s Oar Production team since 2005. “I’ve always liked thinking spatially and mathematically,” Chris says. This interest led him to a high school internship right here in the Concept2 Research and Development Department in 1999, and then on to the Army where he received extensive technical training while working with missile systems.

When Chris returned from deployment to Korea and Iraq, he knew he wanted to stay in Vermont where he grew up. He called Concept2 to see if there were job openings, knowing he had a foot in the door thanks to his internship. Chris was offered a position in Production, and fit in well with the team from day one.

“I was hazed,” Chris jokes of his first days on the job. “We had this wireless scanner to scan boxes for shipping, and using it would cause a shipping label to pop out of the printer. While training me, the guys hid the scanner and told me to just yell 'print' to make the label pop out. They had me yelling 'print!' at the printer until I caught on!”

“My favorite thing about working here is being part of a team,” Chris says. Chris is not only a great team player in the oar shop, but very versatile. He has been involved in nearly every single aspect of production over the years including molding oar parts, oar assembly, equipment programming and maintenance, process improvements, and regatta service. Recently, Chris traveled to the Special Olympics in Princeton, New Jersey, to run venue racing software for the rowing event at the games.

A typical day in the shop starts early for Chris. “I like to arrive around 4 a.m. for the starting shift. I start the day molding parts, and finish in time to have lunch, hang out with my dog and pick up my kids.”

During his free time, Chris enjoys trail running and CrossFit with his coworkers from the Oar Shop, and even participated in the Spartan Beast last year with a Concept2 sponsored team. “Sure, I would do it again,” he says, unlike some of his teammates! He likes gardening, both at home and in the raised beds that he built outside of the Concept2 building. He also enjoys riding his motorcycle and 4-wheeling, canoeing, and fishing with his sons. Chris lives in Johnson, Vermont, with his wife Heidi and two sons, Joseph (10) and Jackson (7).