About Richard "Rick" Walsh

Richard “Rick” Walsh is Chairman and CEO of the Knob Hill Companies, a media, investments and strategic management firm. Prior to founding Knob Hill, Mr. Walsh enjoyed a 25-year career with Darden Restaurants. While with Darden, he served as Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs, was a founding member of the leadership team that took Darden public in 1995, a member of Darden’s Executive Committee and a trustee of the Darden Restaurants Foundation.

Mr. Walsh is the epitome of corporate social responsibility, with a personal commitment to higher education, health care delivery, providing a springboard for entrepreneurship and building community. His impressive list of former and current Board appointments include: The Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation, the Greater Orlando and Florida Chamber of Commerce, National Restaurant Association, Florida Tourism Council, Enterprise Florida, OneBlood, Nemour’s Children’s Health System and the University of Central Florida Board of Trustees. A True UCF Knight past and present, Rick not only holds a Master’s in Public Policy and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University, he also received the University’s “Distinguished Alumnus Award” in 1985 and was awarded UCF’s Honorary Doctorate in Commerce in 2013.

Mr. Walsh has been recognized as Orlando Business Journal’s “Businessman of the Year,” one of Florida Trend Magazine’s “100 Most Influential”, one of The Orlando Sentinel’s “25 Most Powerful People in Central Florida”, and one of Orlando Magazine’s “90 Most Powerful People in Orlando”. Most recently, he was inducted as a Laureate into the prestigious “Hall of Fame” in recognition of a lifetime of leadership with Junior Achievement. 

Rick grew up on the Plains of South Dakota and Iowa and is a horseman at heart. When he’s not at his horse and cattle farm in Wisconsin, you can find him and his beautiful wife, Trish, and their 2 retired canine companions in College Park, actively supporting numerous philanthropic organizations.