Richard Godwin

Current

• Founder at Local Impressions
• President at Collectors Guide Publishing Inc

Past

• Board Member at National Space Society (Current)
• Board Member at Space Frontier Foundation
• CEO at ImportCD.com Ltd

• CEO at Feedback Group
• Director at Brit-Am Ltd
• Owner at Springbank Hotel
• COO at Amigos Restaurants Ltd

see less...

4 more...

Education

• University of Leeds
• University of Sunderland
• Ellesmere College

see less...

Recommended

15 people have recommended Richard

Connections

226 connections

Industry

Management Consulting

Websites

• My Company
• My Company

Richard Godwin’s Summary

Strategist, who enjoys building dynamic companies from the ground up. Have managed small medium and larger companies with offices in multiple countries. Traded internationally on almost all continents. (not Antarctica!) Politically astute and well read.
Managing people from all walks of life and enabling them to grow with a corporation is one of my best talents. I have done this in the UK, Canada and the USA over the past 25 years. I have utilized latest technologies as they became available to increase efficiency and bottom line results.
However I do not rely exclusively on technology as people are any company's most valued asset. I build teams that work and create value both corporate and personal.

Richard Godwin’s Specialties:

Sales & Marketing, Logistics and supply chain, Financial oversight, substantial P&L experience, International experience, re-engineering, Management structure, Strategic planning, corporate policy, new ideas integration. M&A

Richard Godwin’s Experience

• Founder

  Local Impressions

  (Marketing and Advertising industry)

  January 2007 — Present (2 years 7 months)

  Local Impressions is an Out of Home Visual Advertising company.
  We are placing large HD screens that run our proprietary edutainment system, in public places such as restaurants, bars, salons, waiting rooms etc. The system is designed for local businesses to advertise their goods and services within their own communities. It is therefore very attractive visually, yet highly cost effective. The network and the entertainment system were all created in house. We have a unique business model that provides extraordinarily high returns.
  We intend to start a national roll out within two years.

• President

  Collectors Guide Publishing Inc

  (Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Publishing industry)

  February 1990 — Present (19 years 6 months)

  Responsible for all aspects of the company including Marketing, Financial operations, strategic planning, author liaison, website functionality management, logistics, sales. Three different genres of books, Children's Educational books, Space Exploration books on our Apogee Books imprint and Music books. Also multi-media products such as DVD's and CD Roms. The company has contractual agreements with NASA, Lockheed-Martin, Boeing as well as several members of the astronaut corps.
  
  CGP has been recognized for 10 consecutive years by Canadian government as recipient of Heritage Award for service to Canadian Publishing Industry.

• Board Member

  National Space Society (Current)

  (Non-Profit; 11-50 employees; Aviation & Aerospace industry)

  February 2002 — April 2007 (5 years 3 months)

  I am still an active Board Member of NSS which is the largest space industry not for profit advocacy group in the world. I work in the marketing and outreach as well as educational roles within the organization. Purely voluntary work.

• Board Member

  Space Frontier Foundation

  (Non-Profit; 11-50 employees; Aviation & Aerospace industry)

  October 1999 — October 2003 (4 years 1 month)

  I was elected to the Board of the SFF by an almost unanimous decision of the rank and file members. My duties involved fundraising and outreach. It was through this position that I transformed my music book publishing company into a space book company that contracts with NASA, Boeing, Lockheed and many other aerospace entities. While I was a board member at SFF, several members of the general body leased and operated the MIR space station from the Russian Government. I worked closely and diligently to support their efforts in this regard. Whilst in this position I also sat on a Senate Roundtable panel to inform the US Government about space issues. I was also called to join a very high ranking group to advise the government in the aftermath of the Columbia disaster.

• CEO

  ImportCD.com Ltd

  (Partnership; 1-10 employees; Internet industry)

  February 1998 — August 2003 (5 years 7 months)

  ImportCD.com was an Internet startup, marketing and selling Compact Discs on a global basis. Third party sellers were integrated within the main website and were utilized for distributing CD's from all major CD producing nations to almost any single person on the planet. The business model was very efficient and successful. We were able to undercut Amazon.com on import CD prices by 40% and still make a healthy 40% margin by utilizing our unique business model.
  Unfortunately the company was folded after our source of capital dried up due to circumstances beyond our control and because of no fault of our company.

• CEO

  Feedback Group

  (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Logistics and Supply Chain industry)

  September 1989 — January 1997 (7 years 5 months)

  CEO of largest Import Music distribution company in the US along with subsidiary record labels and foreign and overseas offices. Co-Founder of Griffin Music label. 12 separate line managers and VPs reported directly to me including sales, finance, marketing, production, export, procurement, human resources, legal, new projects and more.
  Sold our products nationally throughout the US and also exported to may other countries. We opened up the CD import business for Best Buy, Musicland, Tower and many other large retailers. Utilized this main platform for creation of the Griffin Music label and several others. CG Publishing was a subsidiary of the Feedback Group.
  Feedback was the market leader both in terms of market share and in technological innovation within this section of the music distribution industry.

• Director

  Brit-Am Ltd

  (Food & Beverages industry)

  September 1982 — March 1987 (4 years 7 months)

  Brit-Am was formed when my business partner (50/50) and I purchased a small division of Thorn EMI from that company. When we purchased the company it was supplying food service equipment to many large corporations throughout the UK. I personally was responsible for all sales growth and for converting the company into a commercial foodservice design company. We built industrial foodservice facilities for such corporations as Marriott Hotels, Harrods, Woolworth's Plc, Grand Metropolitan Plc, Trust House Forte, Shell Oil, BP Oil, The Ministry of Defence and many others.
  Company was sold in 1986

• Owner

  Springbank Hotel

  (Hospitality industry)

  June 1981 — June 1982 (1 year 1 month)

  The Springbank Hotel is a stone gothic manor house in the north of England. 24 bedrooms, 4 bars, 2 restaurants, nightclub etc. I bought it when it was bankrupt and was about to close its doors. In six months I had renovated most of the bedrooms, the restaurants and bars and main function room. By Christmas of 1981 we were almost full to capacity in all areas of the hotel. We catered for upmarket clientele including CEO of Rolls Royce and other local large corporations, TV and movie persona and ultimately Mrs Thatcher visited us. As one of 2 equal owners I oversaw all operations regarding running of the hotel, banqueting, restaurant, bars, etc. I sold the hotel exactly one year after purchase for a substantial profit and went into Hotel/restaurant design.

• COO

  Amigos Restaurants Ltd

  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Restaurants industry)

  January 1979 — September 1981 (2 years 9 months)

  I started the first Amigos restaurant in downtown Manchester England as an experiment. It was a fast food restaurant which was very new for the day back then in the UK. It was a hybrid mixture of a McDonald's and a Taco Bell. After proof of concept I was able to raise the funds to open a much larger location in January of 1980. We literally had lines of customers around the building from day one. I designed the operation, created the menu and recipes, hired and trained the staff and ran the operation on a daily basis. We received many accolades and were reported in the national press. Many other fast food start ups in the UK came to observe us and I was employed several times as a consultant to other companies at the time.
  I sold the company for a substantial profit just after I had bought the Springbank Hotel.

Richard Godwin’s Education

• University of Leeds

  MBA , Business , 1976 — 1979

  When I finished my courses, I was asked to join the faculty as a specialist lecturer on certain business systems. I declined, but the offer was nice.

  Activities and Societies:

  Worked to put myself through college. Managed several very successful restaurants during this time. Learned all aspects of the restaurant business while paying for my courses.

• University of Sunderland

  BSc 1 Year , Mechanical Engineering with underwater technology option , 1973 — 1974

  Took one year Mech Eng with underwater technology BSc degree. Transferred later to MBA at Leeds. Worked in restaurants to pay for college which lead to a very successful few years learning the hotel and restaurant business between colleges.

  Activities and Societies:

  Student Union Steward, also head editor and organizer of Rag week which is a college charity fund raiser. Raised enough money through my efforts to donate two full iron lung machines to the local hospital in Sunderland.

• Ellesmere College

  Physics, Math, Economics 1968 — 1973

  Ellesmere was a British public or boarding school for young gentlemen. We had the very best educational facilities available at the time. Every teacher had a Masters in their subject. Classes were as small as 6 students to one teacher.

  Activities and Societies:

  Rugby, Cricket, Tennis, Squash, Shooting, Outdoor Training Unit, Started the colleges first rock band. (Lead Guitar and Vocals) Founded the college Astronomy club.

Additional Information

Richard Godwin’s Websites:

• My Company
• My Company

Richard Godwin’s Interests:

Building companies, especially new dynamic ones. Space Exploration and the new emerging markets in space. Travel. Qualified Professional Chef. Part time science educator. History buff. Musician

Richard Godwin’s Groups:

National Space Society (Board Member) Space Frontier Foundation (ex Board)
Institute of Directors UK (Ex-Fellow)

•    LInked Business Strategists
•    Space Frontier Foundation
•    ENTREPRENEURS-GET FUNDED
•    Venture Capital
•    NASA
•    Commercial Spaceflight Public Relations Network
•    Space Renaissance Initiative
•    The Space Movement
•    Space Solar Alliance for Future Energy

Richard Godwin’s Honors:

In 2008 the International Astronomical Union, the governing body officially naming all celestial objects, named the asteroid Godwin 4252 after Richard Godwin for his efforts to bring space issues to the forefront in the interests of the general public

Richard Godwin’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• new ventures
• job inquiries
• expertise requests
• business deals
• reference requests
• getting back in touch