Department of Finance Directors

John Richards was appointed Director of Finance by Governor Culbert Olson on October 2, 1939. He was born in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, in 1878, graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1896, and received a degree in law in 1897. He served as the head coach of the Wisconsin football team for five years. He later served as the Chairman of the Commission on Living Conditions of War Workers in 1918 and was the President of the Los Angeles Water and Power Commission, all before his appointment to Director of Finance in 1939.