Biography

Peter S. Richards

Peter Richards lived in West Seattle for over 20 years. He was raised as a West Seattle Hi-Yu baby and attended school at Jefferson Elementary (now Jefferson Square), Genesee Hill Elementary, and eventually JFK High School in Burien.

Peter was also raised as a Yellow Pages baby, taking a job as delivery boy at NTD Publishing, Inc, and later becoming the lead to computerize the production department of the company. He eventually oversaw the entire technology aspect of NTD.

Peter served from 1989 to 1997 as manager and eventually CIO of  NTD Publishing, Inc., d/b/a Banana Pages (formerly known as West Seattle Associates, Inc. and Neighborhood Telephone Directories, Inc.).  In 1994, with his brother John Richards he developed and launched the first-ever online Yellow Pages derived from an offline print product.  He then formed an Internet company, Yellow Pages on the Internet, LLC (YPI), to consolidate the Yellow Pages industry on the Web.  InfoSpace acquired YPI in 1997.  Peter consulted for InfoSpace after the acquisition and then joined InfoSpace full-time after selling NTD in late 1997.

Peter was the technological drive behind three Gold Book Awards handed out through ADP.  He also oversaw the production group which earned the YPPA Best Yellow Pages Ad in the World award. He fully developed and implemented the Fax-O-Max system for NTD as well as a free "411" residential information service.

While at InfoSpace, Peter lead the advertising group, which brought in about 70% of the revenue generated. His tenure at InfoSpace helped build the company into a $30 billion Internet powerhouse.

Peter has remained very active in West Seattle, providing hosting and development solutions for the startup of the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce and ArtsWest websites, and continuing development on West Seattle Hi-Yu and WestSeattle.com. Peter has coached the local Seattle Lutheran High School volleyball team for 3 years, and continues to be wholly comitted to the viable sustainability of the community.

Peter manages to help his lovely wife, Sondra, raise their six children between the ages of 15 and 5. With his strong family bonds and ties to the community Peter continues to bring a top tier of tools to our business community. Always striving to meet his mantra of living, "A strong business community leads to a strong residential community through the ties that bind one another. You can't have one without the other."

3/9/2009