Patrick R. Riccards

Non-Profit CEO, Strategic Leader, Communications and Engagement Expert, Award-Winning Author, Advocate, Agitator, Dreamer

Patrick Riccards is the executive director and CEO of Life After Hate, the nation’s leader in the violence intervention community. At Life After Hate, he leads a multidisciplinary team building a safer society by helping individuals disengage from violent extremist groups and online hate spaces.

Pat is also the founder of the Driving Force Institute for Public Engagement, a national effort transforming the teaching and learning of American history and civics through provocative, relevant video content for students and related professional development for teachers. One of the nation’s largest producers of American history education film content, DFI has produced more than 500 short films, currently reaching 52M users.

Previously, Patrick served as a university vice president and as the chief communications and strategy officer at the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, helping build many of its signature initiatives, including the High Meadows Graduate School of Teaching and Learning (acquired by the University of Kansas in 2022).

He also was CEO of the Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now, executive director for communications and public affairs at the American Institutes for Research, chief of staff to the National Reading Panel, and executive director of the Pennsylvania STEM Initiative. Patrick began his career working on Capitol Hill and on political campaigns.

Currently on the Board of Directors for the Center for the Collaborative Classroom and for Project Tomorrow and the advisory board for the Education Writers Association, Patrick was chairman of the school board in Falls Church City, Virginia. He is a member of the Forbes Nonprofit Council, writing regularly for them on nonprofit strategy and leadership.

An award-winning author, he writes and tweets under the handle Eduflack. He is the author of the nationally recognized books, Dadprovement, which chronicles his experiences building a family through adoption, and Dad in a Cheer Bow. A memoir of his four years coaching his daughter’s competition cheerleading team. Pat is also the editor and contributing author of Why Kids Can’t Read: Continuing to Challenge the Status Quo in Education. His most recent book, Why History Matters: American History Educators Speak Out, is a collection of essays from many of the nation’s top k-12 teachers about the importance of history education, Patrick regularly speaks on the intersections of policy, research, and engagement and is the author or ghost author of work that has appeared in hundreds of publications, including USA Today, Washington Post, New York Times, New York Post, and Education Week.

Patrick earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia and completed the Non-Profit Leaders Executive Education Program at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. He is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education.

Patrick lives in Florence, SC with his wife, Jennifer, and children, Michael and Anna. From 2017 to 2021, he has volunteered his time as a coach for his daughter’s competitive cheer team, helping lead a squad of 19 tween girls to Nationals (and a top 10 finish) in December 2019 and runners up at 2019 YCADA Globals.

For more information, please contact Patrick Riccards at patrick@riccards.com or 703-298-8283.