In April 2003, Richard became general counsel to NASPO Cooperative Purchasing Organization LLC, doing business as NASPO ValuePoint. He limits his law practice to advising NASPO ValuePoint in their support of states' cooperative procurement activities nationally. After 10 years with the State of Colorado as assistant attorney general, state purchasing director, and director of the division of finance and procurement, Richard wrote Seeing Excellence: Learning From Great Public Procurement Teams, published by Hugo House Publishing in August 2013. Seeing Excellence is the product of 2 1/2 years of researching stories about great public procurement (and other teams). While the stories focus on traditional procurement teams, there also are stories about a law firm, the Colorado Procurement Technical Assistance Center, a self-directed work team in a state controller's office, and an IT project management office. The book uses those stories to illustrate effective practices in project and quality management, organizational learning, and lateral leadership: Keep purpose in mind; Find opportunities - practice the art of the question; Learn from the stars (best practices); Step to their side often - help mold and promote the team (good teaming practices); Use just enough structure - plan communicate and follow-up (project management); Use meaningful measures of merit; First ask how, then why, then decide (process and root cause analysis; decision making); Manage risk and change; Keep learning and make it stick!; and Lead laterally -Choose to Help.