Richard H. Brown was chairman and chief executive officer of Electronic Data Systems Corporation from 1999 to 2003; chief executive officer of Cable & Wireless plc from 1996 to 1998; a director of E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company from 2001 to 2015 and a director of Home Depot.

President and chief executive officer of H&R Block, Inc. and vice chairman of Ameritech Corporation. He is a member of The Business Council, and a former member of the U.S.-Japan Business Council; the French-American Business Council and the President's National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee.

In 2003, BusinessWeek included Brown in its list of worst managers for 2002.^[1]