Nicole Richards

Nicole Richards is the CEO of Allonnia, a bioremediation company based in the Seaport District of Boston. Richards has over 28 years of industry experience in business strategy, sales, and marketing within water treatment, mining and industrial chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and more.

Richards attended Villanova University from 1988 to 1992, where she earned a Bachelor's of Engineering degree. She then attended the University at Albany, SUNY, from 1997-1999 to achieve a Master's in Business Administration.

Richards maintained various positions over a 13 year period with Cytec Solvay Group. She began her career with the company in April of 2004 as the Global Marketing Director of Polymer Additives. In 2006 she changed positions within the company. She became the Global Sales Director, a role she maintained for just under 3 years before advancing to Global Business Director of Specialty Additives in January of 2009. Richards shifted gears again in April of 2010 when she became the Global Marketing Director of Mining Chemicals. In 2012, she assumed the role of Global Business Director, where she was responsible for strategic business development, resource planning, and developed the Cytec Industrial Minerals incubator. In 2015, Richards became the Head of Global Marketing Communications. This was her final role at Cytec.

In February of 2017, Richards left Cytec Solvay Group, a Solvay subsidiary, and became the Solvay Global Director. Richards was responsible for developing business strategy and identifying areas of growth. She maintained this role for just over a year and a half, leaving Solvay in August of 2018.

In September of 2018, Richards became the Growth, Strategy, and M&A Director of Water Solutions at DuPont. Here, she was tasked with identifying and developing business strategies, roadmaps, investments, and business growth resources. Additionally, she led the team responsible for integrating DuPont company acquisitions.

On September 22, 2020, Richards assumed the Chief Operations Officer (CEO) role at Allonnia, a waste bioremediation company. Here she is leading a team developing synthetic-biology solutions for waste and pollution.