Richard Foster is a Senior Faculty Fellow at the Yale School of Management. Prior to teaching at Yale, Mr. Foster was a Director and Senior Partner with McKinsey & Company, where he founded several practices including the Technology and Innovation practice, the healthcare practice and the private equity practice. From 1995 to 1998 he led McKinsey's worldwide knowledge development.

Mr. Foster's research interests are in the relationships between capital formation, innovation and regulation. He was the external leader of the Council on Foreign Relations Study Group on Innovation and Economic Power, which led to the publication of "Technological Innovation and Economic Performance" by Princeton University Press (2001).