Dick Poulson
2015
Inductee
Richard “Dick” Poulson played loose head prop and second row for the Washington Rugby Club from 1966-1983, where he helped develop the club into one of the East’s powerhouses. From a sometimes less than one full 15 side, he grew Washington to as many as 7 sides with 2 “A” sides playing each weekend. A number of players were later spun off to establish and augment rugby programs at George Mason, NOVA, Sud Americano, George Washington and Turkey Thicket.
He was a two-term club president and match secretary for Washington and was the Co-Founder of the old boy’s side, The Poltroons. Dick Founded the Washington’s 7’s and annual Cherry Blossom (15s) Tournaments, the Baltimore-Washington Rugby Association and, later, the Potomac Rugby Union, which served along with the New York Metropolitan Union, as the predecessor to the Eastern Rugby Union. He also Founded the Potomac Referees Society.
He was a Director/Treasurer of Eastern Rugby Union and served on ERU’s Executive Committee for many years. Dick was also a Trustee of the United States Rugby Foundation in the early years of its formation and later its Chairman, guiding and shaping its mission of supporting amateur rugby.
Dick retired in 2010 as the Senior Executive Vice President and General Counsel at Smithfield Food (NYSE: SFD) He currently serves as a strategic advisor on mergers and acquisitions to a number of investment banks and private equity funds to include inter alia
Societe Generale, Magnetar Fund, Ares Fund, and Oaktree Capital.
He has served as a board member to several public companies such as Stimsonite, Campofrio, (Madrid), and Groupe Smithfield (Paris).
He began his professional career as a Trust Investment Officer at a predecessor to the Bank of America. He became a partner and then Senior Corporate Partner and Managing Partner International at Hogan & Hartson now (Hogan Lovells) one the world’s largest law firms.
Following graduation from the Georgetown University Law Center he became a member of the faculty and taught tax, contracts, and corporate finance.
He is a former Chairman of the The Montpelier Steeplechase and Equestrian Foundation, The Foggy Bottom Youth Baseball Foundation and is currently Chairman of the Mary and Daniel Loughran Foundation. He has also served as a Board member of The National Steeplechase Association (Secretary, member of the Executive Committee) and Pro-Football, Inc. the former owner of the Washington Redskins.
He served two terms on The University of Virginia Board of Managers and was Chairman in 1994 - 1995. He was also President of the UVA Alumni Association, and chaired the Jefferson Scholars Foundation and the UVA Investment Fund. He is a member of the Dean’s Council at The University of Virginia Law School.
Dick and his wife Anne own and operate Hare Forest Farm in Virginia, a thoroughbred horse breeding and sales nursery. The farm has produced a number of prominent race horses including two who have run in the Kentucky Derby – Go For Gin (winner 1994) and General A Rod in 2014.
He is married to the former Anne Dare Wrenn of Richmond and they have two children – Hundley 18, a freshman at Princeton, and Anna Blair 16, a junior at Georgetown Visitation in D.C.