Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Commission

Michael T. Richard is the current WMATC member from Maryland. He was first appointed to WMATC on May 2, 2016, by Governor Lawrence J. Hogan, Jr., and was reappointed on June 15, 2021.

Commissioner Richard has served as a member of the Maryland Public Service Commission since January 2016. Prior to that, he served as Deputy Chief of Staff to Governor Hogan, advising the Governor on a portfolio of issues and helping to manage cabinet agencies that included Agriculture, Energy, Environment, Lottery and Gaming, Natural Resources and Transportation.

Commissioner Richard worked for more than 10 years at the Nuclear Energy Institute as Legislative Programs Director and Congressional Information Program Director. He then served in Governor Robert Ehrlich’s administration as Deputy Secretary of Appointments and as Director of the Maryland Energy Administration.

In 2005, he was appointed to a post at the U.S. Department of Energy—first serving as Executive Director of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board and later as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs where his issues included nuclear energy, radioactive waste management, and legacy environmental remediation. In 2008, Commissioner Richard was hired by Westinghouse Electric Company as Director of Government and International Affairs. He rejoined Maryland state government in 2015.

Commissioner Richard is a past President of the Organization of PJM States, Inc. (OPSI) and currently serves as its Treasurer, and is a member of the Committee on Energy Resources and the Environment for the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC).

Commissioner Richard earned his B.A. from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and an M.B.A. from the University of Maryland, College Park. He attended a French language program at L’Université Laval in Québec City, Canada. Commissioner Richard lives in Fort Washington, Maryland.