Testimonials

I had the privilege of working with Richard at Demax Software. Richard was an amazing leader and really took care of his people. He shared his extensive business, personnel and situational knowledge with me. I cherish my growth under his skilled guidance. Richard ultimately became my mentor and encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone. This led me to take on new roles with the software industry and ultimately led me to my current Vice President position in sales. I consider Richard a dear friend and continue to seek his advice to this day. 

Richard Earnest has what used to be called gravitas. That term goes all the way back to the Roman Empire and was used to describe men of substance, character and fortitude in an age in which such characteristics were more widely shared than they are today. In his long and eventful life, Richard has been a successful athlete, warrior, municipal Mayor, businessman/entrepreneur and wise counselor. He has experienced much and has drawn important lessons and wisdom from his experience. Richard speaks like a practiced professional. What’s more, he actually has something to say.

It is with joy and gratitude that I recommend Richard Earnest’s services and guidance. I was introduced to Richard when my business, Coastal Payroll, was 6 years old a facing a strategic challenge of maintaining growth and profitability in a changing market landscape. Richard’s insight and advice changed our business in ways we could not have expected. He challenged us to think differently and opened our eyes to new ways of thinking. He is a man of strong ethics and beliefs, but he leads with an empathetic heart. After 9 months of intensive interaction, Richard allowed us to focus on solutions that would take Coastal Payroll to the next level.  Fast forward 6 years, we have now been an Inc. 5000 fastest growing company for 5 years running while remaining a top employer of choice in San Diego (and the nation). I can confidently say that Richard’s involvement in our business, and my life, has been a positive contributor to our success. He is a rare gem and I am eternally grateful for his mentorship.

Richard was my first CEO. Luckily for me, it was his 5th time as a CEO. Our most memorable conversation, was when Richard told me - "Pete, don’t worry, we're not being shot at, so what is the worst that can happen here?" Richard served in Vietnam as a pilot with over 320 missions flown from an aircraft carrier in the Pacific. He is both extremely pragmatic & inspiring. He helped me stay calm as his CFO & we made investors 7 times their money, with his ability to sell the company successfully. Years later, I still find his point of view deeply meaningful and impactful. Later in my career, one of my companies went from zero to $4B in value. I would not have been able to add material value later without Richard’s foundational lessons setting my foundation. Today, I work with dozens of companies, I continue to fall back on Richard's advice and mentorship.  

 I've known Richard Earnest for twenty years and had the opportunity to work with him as CFO of Data Critical Corp., where Richard served initially as a Board member and then as CEO. During that period of time, Data Critical went public and was eventually purchased by GE Medical. During that period of time, Richard’s steadfast leadership was always apparent. His cool demeanor under fire was a model in dealing with pressurized situations. I knew that Richard was a highly decorated Vietnam fighter pilot – and that certainly showed throughout our work together. Indeed, despite various business pressures, Richard always emphasized the requirement to undertake all activities in the most ethical way – even when hard, uncomfortable or short-term costly. In a regulated medical device company, which Data Critical was, we knew that maintaining those ethical boundaries was vital, particularly as he understood we were dealing with human health. It was through this lens that I have followed Richard’s lead, and in my professional endeavors, I have maintained this as a strict professional guide. Ethical leadership, as Richard showed me, is not only is the right thing to do, it leads to better outcomes for everyone, starting with individuals themselves. I can think of no better person in my professional experience to teach all of us the merits of how leaders should behave.

 I met Richard Earnest when I was Co-founder and CEO for the then start-up international software company, Acucorp, Inc. Richard already had a string of successes leading software and other tech companies. I was in need of mentoring. From the moment I met him, he was very helpful with excellent advice. Within six months, he among others guaranteed a bank loan for the company. About seven years later, Richard joined our Board of Directors as the sole outside director and remained on the Board until the sale of the company.

First and foremost, Richard is an excellent listener. Because of his vast experience, he quickly understood the issues facing our company and always gave sound advice. As often with high tech products, the key to success of the company was building sales channels and forming alliances with very large corporations. His strategic advice helped us differentiate leading edge technologies from bleeding edge technologies. He worked collaboratively with our team. He did not tell our team what to do. Rather, he encouraged, guided and empowered our best efforts.

While on the Board of Directors, Richard helped us develop best practices of corporate governance, particularly in the areas of intellectual property protection, human resources, contracts and shareholders rights. This kept our legal costs down because we proactively engaged our employees, customers, industry partners and shareholders with sound process and documentation. This effort was made more complicated by the fact we had five offices in Europe and distributors in ten other countries with accompanying foreign employment, tax and contract law to navigate.

Richard’s attention to our international business and employment regulations paid huge dividends when we sold the company to a competitor. Our negotiation period was short because we could easily prove the strength and longevity of our customer base. The due diligence was smooth as we had sound corporate governance practices in place. Having Richard review and help revise our processes for over ten years was so valuable.

After working with Richard for eighteen years, I continued to follow him into new ventures and service groups. Richard is a leader that I, as a leader, wanted to follow. I invested in a new electric battery company he founded. I followed him to a mentoring group called San Diego Chairman’s Roundtable that he co-founded. Although my 30-year experience with Richard Earnest was primarily in entrepreneurial endeavors, Richard served as City Councilman, Mayor of Del Mar and was active in a number of civic organizations. In so many ways, he made our community better and more fiscally sound. His leadership qualities attracted so many good people to his side to make our work life and community life better. His energy and enthusiasm for so many worthy causes is boundless. I am so grateful that Richard Earnest has been such an important leader and teacher in my life.