Steven K. Richards, a Penn State Altoona alumnus, received the 2015 Alumni Fellow Award. Richards attended Penn State Altoona for two years, before transferring to the University Park campus to earn his business degree in 1984.
The Alumni Fellow Award, established in 1973, is the most prestigious award given by the Penn State Alumni Association. Penn State Altoona nominated Richards as a leader in his professional field. Upon nomination, the President of the University invites recipients to return to campus to share their expertise with students, faculty, and administrators.
Since the award was established, more than 750 alumni—out of more than 645,000 living alumni—have been honored as Alumni Fellows, including 2015 recipients.
Richards is president and chief executive officer of Mood Media Corporation, with approximately $500 million in revenues and serving 450,000 client locations in forty countries. Mood Media is the global in-store leader for experience design solutions, connecting brands with customers via interactive music, media, and mobile marketing campaigns.
Richards is a business transformation expert known for achieving swift, systemic operational turnarounds, marked by record revenue and profitability growth. Richards began his career in 1984 at AT&T, where he was groomed for broadened management responsibilities via rotational, operational assignments with increasing scope. In 1998, he was recruited to Excel Communications, serving through 2001, notably as its chief marketing and product officer.
As part of the Alumni Fellow experience, Richards offered presentations to Penn State Altoona business and communication students and participated in the Entrepreneur in Residence Program at the Sheetz Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence, where students were given the opportunity to sit down with Richards for one-on-one question and answer sessions.
Richards and his wife, Shelby, and their daughter, Ryan, share their time between Austin, Texas, and Charlotte, North Carolina.
