Teaches at Improving Communications
Dr. Richard J. Atkins is the Managing Director of Improving Communications, a New York-based corporate training firm that offers Business Writing, Public Speaking, Customer Service, Leadership & Management, and Sales training.
Rich is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) (http://www.shrm.org/). He currently serves as the Chair of the Orientation Committee and the Co-Chair of the Career Planning & Professional Development Special Interest Group for the Human Resources Association of New York (HR/NY) (http://www.hrny.org/). Rich is American Management Association (AMA) (http://www.amanet.org/)-certified faculty and is also a Vistage (http://www.vistage.com/)-certified speaker.
Dr. Atkins also presents frequently throughout the nation on the concept of MEDIA TERRORISM (http://www.mediaterrorism.net/)™. As a subject matter expert, he has made television appearances, and has been quoted in numerous newspaper and magazine articles. His doctoral dissertation on canine learning styles (http://www.worldcat.org/title/relationships-between-contemporary-animal-learning-theory-and-specialists-individaual-canine-training-experiences/oclc/63273353&referer=brief_results) was the subject of an article titled “One Size Does Not Fit All” in the March 2006 issue of Dog Fancy Magazine.
Dr. Atkins’s other interests include: motorcycling (120K+ miles), cigars, cheese, theater, genealogical research (12 generations of family tree so far…), and music (electric bass guitar and the Chapman Stick Touchboard) (http://www.stick.com/). His travel destinations have included most of the United States, Mexico, Canada, Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, Scotland, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Greece, and Turkey.
Rich has had many travelogue articles published in BMW Owners News. He has interviewed and written about numerous celebrity personalities including Jay Leno (http://www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show/), Billy Joel (http://www.billyjoel.com/), Neil Peart (http://www.neilpeart.net/), Matt Scannell (http://verticalhorizon.com/), Jacob Slichter (http://semisonic.com/), Arnold McCuller (http://www.arnoldmcculler.com/), Kasim Sulton (http://www.kasimsulton.com/), Leland Sklar (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Leland-Sklar/108327479191909), Tony Levin (http://www.tonylevin.com/), Jordan Rudess (http://www.jordanrudess.com/), Pat Mastelotto (http://patmastelotto.com/), Carl Palmer (http://www.carlpalmer.com/), and Steve Morse (http://www.stevemorse.com/).
Rich Atkins lives in New York with his wife Patricia, children Ciara and Robert, and their dog, Roxy. The Atkins Family’s first dog, Casey (http://www.improvingcommunications.com/caseynyc.htm) was one of the pets used to provide comfort and solace to survivors at the Family Center for victims of the World Trade Center attack.