Volunteer of the Year – An Interview with Michelle Richards

by Laura Harcourt

Michelle Richards leads the Mobility Solutions sales team dedicated to the National Security and Public Safety sectors of Global Business - Public Sector Solutions. An accomplished team leader, Michelle Richards holds key roles in WIT and Women of AT&T (WOA), currently: President, WOA MD; Chair, WIT Maryland Leadership Lunch; and Coach, Mt. deSales CyberPatriot Girls, where she engages students to explore STEM careers.  Michelle champions the WIT/WOA collaboration, launching the Maryland Executive Leadership Lunches, which she has chaired for the last three years, and supporting expansion to Virginia.  She launched the WOA cell phone drive to fund WOA MD Scholarships and expanded it to WIT to support GIT programs.

Michelle received the prestigious 2016 POTUS Volunteer Service Award, and holds a BS in Business Administration and an MS in Human Resources Development.

Which of your special projects or undertakings are you most proud of
Being President of Women of AT&T, Maryland chapter. It’s a combination of tenured/senior women and young professionals hoping to get into tech. Lots of collaboration. We have a luncheon series featuring amazing speakers, and we bring tech programs to Maryland youth.

Phyllis Kolmus and I launched CyberPatriots: we send all-girl teams to the national competition sponsored by the US Air Force. We now have eleven participating high schools, and last year, made it to the regional finals The students are now interested in IT, looking for cyberattacks, and getting hands-on technical skills. Plus, it’s a lot of fun for us and for the girls!

Describe, anonymously or not, the best manager you know, and why they are so good at it.
Good managers believe in you more than you believe in yourself, sometimes. They see something you may not see. My best manager had an extremely positive attitude and led by example.

If you completely changed courses today, what would your new life look like?
I would continue my volunteer work. I like kids, so might work with middle or high school girls. They know how to make any task fun!

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