Richards serves as a director on several public service, Native Hawaiian and educational boards, including Paepae O Heʻeia, Bishop Museum Association Council, and ʻAha Kāne. He has held management positions in both the public and private sector, primarily in the field of aquaculture. He spent close to two decades at The Oceanic Institute, a private non-profit research organization.
Currently, Billy is the Director of Communications for Partners in Development Foundation, a public not-for-profit company that serves the Native Hawaiian community through social and educational programs. He has been involved with Hawaiʻi’s voyaging community since 1975 and has voyaged aboard the waʻa kaulua (double-hulled voyaging canoes) Hōkūleʻa, Hawaiʻiloa, Makaliʻi and Hokualakaʻi throughout the Pacific. He is presently the President of “The Friends of Hōkūleʻa and Hawaiʻiloa” and serves as co-chair of ‘Ohana Waʻa, a round-table collaborative of voyaging organizations from all of the Hawaiian Islands.