Rich Herrmann is currently serving as State Chair for the Colorado Forward Party. Rich joined Forward in December 2022 after listening to an Andrew Yang podcast about Forward the previous summer and deciding that he wanted to be part of the solution to heal the anger and political polarity in America. A former active Democrat, Rich became independent in 2016. Like many Forwardists, he felt disenfranchised from his historical party and was looking for a new political home. Rich feels strongly about the preservation of democracy in the US for his children. He believes the country needs alternative and additional leadership choices and a political voice that better represents the real majority of Americans, especially Independents.
Rich is a former oil & gas technology executive, having held leadership positions in product management, business development, and IT with IHS (S&P Global), Halliburton and other leading providers including several startups. His roles allowed him to travel extensively in North and South America, Western Europe, Russia, SE Asia and Australia.
He began his career with Chevron in California where he explored for oil & gas as a geophysicist. He holds a B.S. in Earth, Atmospheric & Planetary Sciences from MIT and an M.S. in Exploration Geophysics from Stanford University. He is married with two adult children and resides in Morrison, CO. He is a rock drummer, a yogi, an avid mountain biker, fair weather skier and a terrible golfer.