Josh Richards is an American lawyer and tech strategist, focused on the intersection of policy and emerging technologies, particularly in the field of ocean climate health. He currently leads North American operations for Pacific Peering, a French telecom company that is deploying the world’s first climate sensors connected to commercial deep-ocean subsea data cables (SMART Cables). He also serves as Chair of the United Nations Joint Task Force committee on business development for SMART Cables, leading policy advancement for technology solutions to climate change, particularly in the fields of deep-ocean sensor data collection. Much of his work interfaces with U.S. and foreign militaries, focusing on security concerns and data exploitation surrounding deep-ocean data collection. He has helped found multiple organizations, and serves on Boards and Commissions for leading universities and nonprofits. He has established working groups on environmental AI, and has been engaged in policy development related to advanced technologies for much of his career.
 
Prior to his work with Pacific Peering, he served in policy and legal offices at the Pentagon, DHS, DOJ, and the U.S. House of Representatives, with policy work covering defense, security cooperation, foreign policy, and technology policy. While at the Pentagon, Richards served in the Foreign Liaison Directorate of Army Intelligence, where he supported foreign military attachés, and directed research efforts on foreign policy issues. He later served in the International Policy Office of Army Strategy, where he provided strategic policy guidance for security cooperation activities with foreign militaries.
 
Within the private sector, he has served in strategy and leadership positions with nonprofit organizations, as well as multinational corporations, where his portfolio has included strategy consulting for NGOs, intergovernmental organizations, Treasury, State, Big Tech, and telecom Fortune 100s. He frequently speaks on emerging technologies and their applications to environmental research. He has delivered speeches and panel remarks for academic, corporate, diplomatic, and government events on topics including: corporate responsibility, sustainable development, economic competitiveness, emerging technologies (smart grids, robotic process automation, AI, machine learning), environmental technologies, and international relations. In addition to his law degree and MBA, he has studied machine learning at MIT, and digital human rights at Oxford.
 
Born in France to American linguists, Richards grew up living in six different countries across four continents, including seven years in central Africa, and has traveled extensively throughout Europe and Asia as both a private citizen and as a member of official delegations.