Richard Higby is a chemist by education and training and has led laboratory operations for multi-national and domestic organizations including Eurofins, Covance, and Microbac. His job titles have included President/CEO, Managing Director, Vice President of Operations, National Sales Director, Senior Marketing Manager, and Director of Technical Service and Regulatory Affairs (FDA, EPA, USDA).
Most recently, Richard was a partner in a consulting practice to teach, train, and mentor business development skills to scientists and engineers. He is A founding partner in NexGenLab, a professional learning and development consultancy.
Richard is a native Californian having enjoyed career opportunities in Pleasanton CA, Kansas City MO, St. Paul MN, Madison WI, and Richmond VA where he currently resides. He has traveled extensively in his career and conducted business in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Kuwait, Mexico, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. Richard is married with two children. He is an Eagle Boy Scout and strives to live by those values in his daily and professional life.
Richard is a serial entrepreneur where he has founded three businesses focused on helping others in technical fields related to business development, organizational management, and laboratory operations. He is the recipient of the prestigious Labcorp Chairman’s Award for inspiration, dedication and unrelenting pursuit of excellence. Seeking to develop new markets through regulatory approval, Richard has authored or significantly contributed to five food additive petitions all of which resulted in new approved uses for novel chemistry in industrial food processing.
Richard holds a Doctor of Philosophy in chemistry having conducted research in physical and synthetic organic chemistry at the University of California, Irvine. His bachelor’s degree is also in chemistry from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Richard is a member of the American Chemical Society and has held memberships in the Institute of Food Technology, and the International Association for Food Protection.
