Adam Richards, MBA ‘15, BSN ‘02, RN, didn’t grow up in a health care family; most relatives were teachers. His path took shape as a volunteer on an ambulance in high school, then as an EMT-firefighter with Pullman Fire while studying kinesiology at WSU in 1999. The turning point came when he applied to nursing school and moved to Spokane in 2000. He graduated with his BSN in 2002, worked 15 years at the bedside, and earned an executive MBA from WSU in 2015 before stepping into nurse leadership roles—director of emergency services, chief nursing officer at Holy Family, director of nursing and now Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) for Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center and Children’s Hospital.
Two Coug Nurses at the dinner table
Richards met his future wife, Meredith (Walker) Richards, in Pullman; both completed nursing school in Spokane. She built her career in NICU while he found his home in the ER. That shared clinical language made life gentler on hard days and more flexible when their family grew.
“Anytime you have nurses in the family, you have that built-in support,” Richards said. “Nursing allows you to work different shifts… there’s a lot of flexibility.”
What nursing leadership means now
As CNO, Richards balances quality, patient experience, and the realities of staffing and finance. His guiding light is retention and growth in the nursing profession—welcoming new nurses, ensuring safe experiences, and modeling the kind of team culture that keeps people in the work.
“My primary role is to advocate for nursing,” he said. “But my real job is to take care of everyone—from patients to coworkers to student nurses—so when they come to my hospital, it’s a positive experience.”
“You don’t get to turn nursing off”
For Richards, nursing is a lifelong identity—one that shows up at work and at home.
“Once you’re a nurse, you’re always a nurse… you don’t get to turn the role of a nurse off when you go home,” he said. Neighbors call with first-aid questions; family members ask for a quick look at an injury. It’s service, woven into daily life.
The next Coug Nurse: niece Taylor Richards (BSN ‘25)
Today, the Coug Nurse thread runs to the next generation. Taylor Richards, a student in the BSN program and a nurse tech, brings the fresh lens Richards champions. He coaches but lets her discover. Mock interviews. Confidence-building. Space to learn. “I don’t give her too much advice—she’s smart,” he said. “I want to support her but also let her have those experiences.”
Advice for nursing students
“Be confident in who you are.”
“When they come to my hospital or to my organization, I want that to be a positive experience. I want them to have the same experience I had at WSU. I want it to be positive. I want them to learn something. I want them to be better and to be able to work at the top of their license or the top of their capability.”
He teaches the STAR pause—Stop, Think, Act, Review—as a practical safety tool. “The number one factor I see in root-cause analyses is that people felt rushed. If we just stop for one second and think, we can prevent a lot of errors.”
Service, family, and teaching define Richards’ path. He builds safe places to learn, sets a standard for care, and cheers for the next generation—beginning with his own.
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