Rich has spent 30 years driving innovation across the PC, mobile, cloud, Asia, and AI revolutions.

At Microsoft, he played a key role in the PC revolution, leading Excel for Windows’ growth from 5% to 25% market share and later serving as VP of Product Management for Windows NT, SQL Server, and Exchange. His team helped drive enterprise sales from $49M to $1.2B in 18 months, eventually reaching $12.5B. He also co-authored the Marketing Playbook on product strategy, customer insights, and pricing.

In 2000, he co-founded Ignition Partners and Qiming Venture Capital, with backing from QUALCOMM, SoftBank, and HP, fueling early-stage investments in DocuSign, Xiaomi, and multiple companies acquired by Apple, Tencent, Cisco, and others.

Rich later focused on deep AI technology, co-founding Surround.io, which secured 23 patents in computer vision and AI before merging with Xevo, Inc., a leading automotive software supplier acquired by Lear Corporation in 2019. By 2021, he co-founded TNE.ai, bringing enterprise AI solutions to market.

He began his career at Bell Labs, holds 27 patents, and has lectured at Stanford, Northwestern, UW, and Berkeley. He earned his MS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford and a BS from Princeton (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa).