Greg Richards graduated in metallurgical engineering from the University of British Columbia. He continued with the department, teaching process metallurgy and conducting research in non-ferrous pyrometallurgy. He later moved to Cominco Research, working in their metallurgical research group, and then to the technical services department of Trail Operations, Teck Metals Ltd. He is currently superintendent of knowledge management, responsible for development systems for the capture and transfer of critical business knowledge. He has served as a board member of the Metallurgy and Materials Society of CIM since 2007.