RONDAL RICHARDSON, C'90
nashville, TN
Rondal Richardson is a 27-year veteran of the entertainment industry, having managed projects spanning the world of entertainment from music, film, and television endeavors to magazine placements, New York Times best-selling book launches, and philanthropic strategies for entertainment clients and partners around the country in the past three decades. During that time, Richardson served as a marketing executive for nine years with Garth Brooks and served as general manager for Wynonna Judd from 1999–2006, when he helped to navigate the direction of the artist’s career including once-in-a-lifetime projects with the Walt Disney Company, 20th Century Fox, Major League Baseball, and Oprah Winfrey. In 2000, he launched a five-year national entertainment platform for Vanderbilt University’s expanded philanthropic reach and facilitated healthcare access to the music community, which included projects for the Ryan Seacrest Foundation, Darius Rucker, Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Rascal Flatts, Dierks Bentley, Kelly Clarkson, and Lady Antebellum among hundreds of other entertainment industry partners. Richardson served as the chief operating officer at Onsite Workshops for many years and currently works on the donor services leadership team at the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee in Nashville. In service to the community through his philanthropic efforts, he has helped to raise over $150 million for nonprofits around the country in the last 15 years. He has served on a number of boards including the board of directors of the W.O. Smith Community Music School, Musicians on Call, and St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School. He is a voting member of the Country Music Association, the Academy of Country Music, and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
He was named one of Nashville Lifestyles’ “Most Beautiful People” in 2016. The magazine honors Nashvillians for “beauty that comes from deep within and permeates all that they do.”
At Sewanee, Richardson was a politics major, was elected to the Discipline Committee, was inducted into the Omicron Delta Kappa honor society, was a head proctor, a member of the Highlander’s Society, Red Ribbon Society, the Interfraternity Council, and a member of Sigma Nu fraternity. At graduation, he was awarded the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Medallion, the highest award given at commencement for character.
As an alum, Rondal has served as a Sewanee Career Readiness volunteer, a Sewanee Fund class volunteer, an Alumni Arcadian, and was a member of the Alumni Executive Board.
