From Blueprints to Better Businesses
Richard Cortez has always been drawn to blueprints.
As a kid, he was fascinated by architecture and technical drawings. Every line had a purpose. The challenge wasn’t making something that looked good. It was designing something that worked.
He never became an architect.
Instead, he has spent more than three decades applying that mindset to businesses. Whether it’s an org chart, an ERP implementation, or a fragmented spreadsheet, Richard looks for the underlying structure that determines whether a company scales efficiently or drifts into complexity.
Building Businesses, Not Just Systems
Richard’s career began early.
He started a framing business at 16 and co-founded a data communications company at 21, installing fiber optics throughout the Bay Area. From there, he held leadership roles at Silicon Graphics, Dell, Citrix, and Rithum Commerce.
The companies changed. The challenge rarely did.
He was usually called in when growth had outpaced operations. At Dell, he was one of several leaders who helped scale the ITO and Business Process Outsourcing business from approximately $50 million to $1.2 billion in annual recurring revenue over ten years. As General Manager and Director of Global Field Services, he built a 2,200-person organization that reached $255 million in annual recurring revenue and helped make Dell #1 globally for Field Services in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant.
Looking back, he sees a common thread.
“I’ve always been fixing businesses that have lost their way.”
Finding a Home at BGA
Richard came to BGA through an 18-year friendship with Kevin Pacourek, who invited him to help a client preparing for a sale after years of acquisition-driven growth. That single engagement grew into a lasting role with the firm.
Today, as Managing Director, Operations, Richard works alongside BGA’s professionals to help private equity sponsors and enterprise clients solve business problems quickly.
The team’s objective is straightforward: improve EBITDA by reducing unnecessary SG&A, strengthening operations, and creating measurable results through focused 60- to 90-day engagements.
“We’re not here to land and expand,” Richard says. “We’re the Navy SEALs. We get in, solve the problem, get out, measure the outcome, and do it again. We’re more of a scalpel than a sword.”
For Richard, the math is simple.
At a 10x valuation, $10 million in lasting annual savings can add about $100 million in enterprise value.
Solving the Problem Behind the Problem
Those engagements often begin with financial performance but rarely stay there.
Companies may bring BGA in to improve SG&A or EBITDA, only to discover the real obstacle is unreliable data, disconnected systems, or outdated technology.
“Customers tell me, ‘I’d love to focus on that, but we’re constantly putting out fires because our systems aren’t working the way they need to.’”
That is where the broader BGA team comes in. Richard brings an operator’s eye for where a business is breaking down, and BGA’s accounting, finance, and technology professionals bring the depth to fix it. Together, they take on back-office transformations, M&A integrations, finance-system rebuilds, and large-scale data cleanup.
The same philosophy shapes how Richard and the team think about AI.
The bigger opportunity isn’t the newest tool. It’s clean, trustworthy data. Without that foundation, AI simply produces faster answers built on flawed assumptions.
The Anti-Consultant
Ask Richard how he approaches clients, and his answer is immediate.
“I try to be the anti-consultant.”
Having worked on both the customer and vendor sides, he has little patience for jargon or complicated frameworks. He favors plain language and solutions clients can sustain after the engagement ends.
He believes every process needs a clear owner, bad news should surface early, and teams should standardize before they automate. If success depends on one indispensable person, the problem isn’t really solved.
For Richard, simplicity isn’t about doing less. It’s about removing complexity that doesn’t create value.
Outside the Office
Richard lives in Trabuco Canyon with his wife, Amber, an HR executive, and their three dogs, including a new puppy. He’s also a proud stepfather to Amber’s two entrepreneurial sons. Richard and Amber love to travel, with Capri and Greece next on their list.
Golf is his mental reset. His ideal weekend? “Good friends, a good meal, a good laugh.”
Looking Ahead
Richard sees this work continuing to grow as companies turn to BGA for experienced operators who can deliver measurable results without lengthy consulting engagements.
His own goal still traces back to those blueprints. “I want to package my experience into simple, bite-sized chunks that provide immediate impact,” he says. “No jargon. Easy to understand. Outcome-based. Where clients see results quickly.”