Richardson, D. Kenneth, 1931-

D. Kenneth Richardson, known familiarly as Ken, was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. After high school he attended Punahou College and Graduated in 1948. He was employed by the Hughes Aircraft Company in 1952 as a radar design engineer. In 1954, while employed at Hughes, Richardson enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Business Administration where he earned his MBA in 1959. He was promoted to vice president of operations and in 1989 he was named president and chief operating officer for the Hughes Aircraft Company, which at its peak employed 85,000 people. The company became the leading military electronic company in the world, developing technology that would by used by the military as well as civilians in lasers, cellphones, and satelite television.

Richardson retired from the Hughes Aircraft Company in 2001 and returned to Honolulu, Hawaii where he taught engineering and design in the Punahou School's learning lab. He documented his tenure at Hughes in the book Hughes After Howard: The Story of the Hughes Aircraft Company, which was published in 2011. His desire to motivate young minds led him to give many scholarships throughout the country, including Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts and the University of Southern California.

Sources:

Ralph Vartabedian, "Hughes Aircraft Names Richardson as President," Los Angeles Times, last modified December 5, 1989, http://articles.latimes.com/keyword/d-kenneth-richardson.

David Davis, "Ken Richardson ("59) Credits Creativity for the success of Hughes Aircraft," UCLAAnderson, last modified April 3, 2013, https://www.anderson.ucla.edu/media-relations/2013/ken-richardson.

D. Kenneth Richardson "48 Learning Lab Opens, Punahou Communications Staff," last modified February 26, 2018, https://www.punahou.edu/news/post/~board/migrated-news.