Chase Hunter Richardson

I'm a cybersecurity leader, AI entrepreneur, and self-taught technologist who built this career from the ground up. The work runs in the family. My grandfather, James Robert "Big Jim" Richardson, was mostly a C-130 combat engineer, serving first with the Army and then with the Air Force after it became its own service in 1947, across a 40 year career. A tree has been planted for Big Jim in the NC Game Lands, next to a tree for his wife and my grandmother, Norma Joyce Richardson. Joyce and Jim, along with my Dad, Randy, helped raise me during my formative years. Randy ran Construction by Richardson, and that is where I got my start learning what hard work was as young as 8, picking up nails on roofing jobs and hauling wood and nails out from post-demo work. In the early 1990s, his work took the family to Bermuda for a stretch; he was building bomber hangars at NAS Bermuda before the base closed in 1995. My amazingly strong and resilient father Randy taught me that how I carry myself is half the work, and that strength is not just physical: strength of character, morals, ethics, and values matter just as much or more.

Further back, the line runs through Charles J. Phillips, author of Glass, and Derek L. Phillips, Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Amsterdam, whose publications include the 1971 methodology classic Knowledge from What? Theories and Methods in Social Research. I did not know either of the Phillipses existed until 2025, and not until 2026 did I begin to grasp the size of the titans they were in their fields. "Highly respected" is an understatement for two men who worked at the pinnacle until death, each published many times over in scientific papers and books. I channel that whole inheritance into building systems that serve people. I lead with honesty, heart, and over twenty years of hard-won experience, with many more to come.

The name is part of the inheritance too. My Dad, Randy, originally wanted to name me Forest Hunter Richardson, but he was only given Hunter. I ended up with Chase Hunter, and the etymology, the study of where words come from and what they once meant, lands on "the ever hunting, always chasing, son of a strong king." Strong is one translation; brave and hardy work just as well, since the Old German hart carries all three.

That meaning is not decorative; it explains how I work in real life. Ever hunting means I do not stop scanning for the next gap to close. Always chasing means forward motion is the default. Son of a strong king means I carry the weight without flinching, because the people around me are counting on me to. I only learned what any of this meant at age 42, and I am actively exploring the rest of the family tree now.