Richard C. Needham is a recent retiree from the County of San Diego, having worked nearly 25 years in Human Resources. When he retired, Mr. Needham was the Sr. Human Resources Officer for the East Region of the County’s Health and Human Services Agency for nearly 1000 employees. Expertise include, medical issues, workplace ethics and employee relations.
Mr. Needham was born at Williams Air Force Base in Chandler, Arizona and spent his youth moving throughout the country as the child of a military officer, mostly in the southern states during the turbulent 1960’s and 1970’s. He moved back to Arizona to complete his undergraduate degree at Arizona State University. Upon completing his undergraduate degree, he moved to San Diego in 1987 to get a post-graduate Paralegal Certificate from UCSD and has been here ever since.
Richard’s personal and professional experiences provide him a unique skill set that help support the cadre of expertise of the SDIAHC Board of Directors. More specifically, his insight offers expertise in all aspects of HR for clinics, recruiting and retention of medical positions, analysis of policies and insight into employee disciplinary issues. Richard believes in community service and his role on the board provides that giving back to his community.
Richard values his friendships with the Native American community, and believes these friendships have enabled him to learn what wasn’t taught in school and has provided him perspective on Native American and minority issues to expand and evolve, giving him a familiarity that will assist him in any work done for SDAIHC.
Currently, Mr. Needham is retired, living in an empty nest with his wife Jean, who was born in the Philippines, with their dog Foxy. They have two children (James and Denise) and two grandchildren (Nicolas and Marcelo).
