Richard Kincaid

Richard Kincaid’s plaintive voice unleashed like an arrow from its bow, soars as it gathers momentum with yearning and unabashedly hits home in the heart. Longtime businessman and CEO of the largest publicly traded office real estate company in the United States, when his company sold in February 2007, Richard experienced a moment of reckoning. He faced a choice: he could step back onto the corporate treadmill or pursue projects that really mattered to him. “I didn’t want to continue on autopilot,” he says, “I wanted to make conscious decisions about my life and I needed outlets for my passion that corporate life never provided me.” Thus, Richard turned the page and began a new chapter in which he returned to his first love: music and simultaneously blazed a trail through new territory: philanthropy.

The fifth child of a musically inclined family of six, Richard sang before he completed his first sentence. In Ellinwood, Kansas, a town of approximately 2,000 people, the young Richard inspired church parishioners with stirring solos during services, weddings and funerals. Later he charmed diners as a singing waiter. From elementary school through his Bachelor’s at Wichita State University and his MBA at University of Texas, Richard studied classical voice. Drawn to the narrative power and sweeping scores of musical theater, he starred in many summer theater productions.  Influences include Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Elton John and the musical theater canon. Throughout his corporate career, Richard maintained a strong and joyous connection to music and he re-dedicated himself to singing in 2007.

At the same magic moment, Kincaid, struck by the altruism of folks he met in the non-profit world, founded the BeCause Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to solving complex social issues and promoting change through the power of film.