Carrie Richardson is a Woman Who Means Business

Carrie Richardson is a 4’11” powerhouse who is ready to make an impact the moment she wakes up. She considers herself a “yes” woman who always takes advantage of whatever opportunities are thrown at her, yet in the last few years she’s worked hard to hone her focus on the most important tasks at hand. This is just one of the things that has driven her success, along with owning her work, staying positive in the midst of challenges and learning to trust herself despite mistakes and setbacks. These attributes combined are what led her to become executive director of Leadership Springfield, a small nonprofit whose programming encourages leadership development and connects executives in the region. But to understand Richardson fully, it requires a visit to 2018 when she made a pivotal decision in her career: She had to choose between taking a larger leadership role in a corporate setting in northwest Arkansas or staying in Springfield and beginning a new venture. 

During that year, Richardson was working at what has since become Ozarks Community Hospital as its chief operating officer. She’d been with the organization for nearly 12 years and was groomed to take the next step—moving to northwest Arkansas to work from the organization’s new operational headquarters. “I grew with the organization into health care administration, eventually becoming chief operating officer of the tri-state rural health system, traveling between Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma every week and working with the executive leadership team, overseeing marketing and communications, government relations, operations and working collaboratively with the CEO on growing the business,” she says. As the organization grew, her time in Springfield shrank, and she decided that in a few years, she’d begin setting her sights on a new opportunity. 

That opportunity came knocking days later. As a Leadership Springfield alumna herself, Richardson learned about the organization’s open position. After five rounds of interviews, Richardson became Leadership Springfield’s executive director in 2018. At that time, the organization was in a transition stage as it moved from being an affiliate of the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce to being a fully self-sufficient, operationally independent nonprofit. “Leadership Springfield was very much like a 35-year-old startup, and I was uniquely suited to apply my business skills and nonprofit passion to the opportunity,” Richardson says. Using the experience she harnessed in her early years from interning with The Great Game of Business and writing grants for the Developmental Center of the Ozarks, Richardson didn’t waste any time growing the organization. In the few years she’s been at the helm, Richardson has worked with the organization’s board to implement The Great Game of Business and helped Leadership Springfield become a fully sustainable organization. Prior to this, the organization was subsidized by almost $100,000 per year in expenses from the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce. During this time, she also increased scholarships for Leadership Springfield’s two signature classes. Throughout it all, she’s been earning her master’s degree in nonprofit and civic leadership from Drury University, which she was awarded in December of last year.