Draft:Richard Weening

• Comment: It still looks like AI, with effectively unchecked sources which go to the top level domain rather than to the effective source. ChrysGalley (talk) 10:36, 13 September 2026 (UTC)

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Richard William Weening (born December 24, 1945) is an American media and technology entrepreneur. He founded seven start-up companies, three of which became public companies. He also owns a Milwaukee-based investment firm that supports early-stage technology and media companies. His business career includes educational publishing, business information services,, enterprise software, and radio broadcasting. He was a founder of Cumulus Media and served as the company's Executive Chairman.

Weening was involved in politics early in his career. He served as Executive Secretary to Governor Patrick Lucey (D-Wisconsin) from 1970 to 1972, and later as National Political Director of John Lindsay's 1972 Democratic presidential campaign, in addition to other posts.

Early life and education

Weening studied philosophy and economics at Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota and at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee from 1964 to 1967.In 2017, he was the recipient of Saint John's University’s Alumni Achievement Award.

Political career

Weening entered politics in his early twenties. He managed the 1968 campaign of Wisconsin State Representative Dennis Conta (D-Milwaukee). From 1968 to 1970 Weening was a Legislative Assistant and Home Secretary for U.S. Representative Henry S. Reuss (D-Wisconsin).

In February 1970, he left Reuss's staff to direct Patrick Lucey's campaign for Governor of Wisconsin. Following Lucey's election, Weening was named Executive Secretary in November 1970.

He resigned from Lucey's office in January 1972, to become National Political Director of New York Mayor John Lindsay's campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. Lindsay withdrew after losing the Wisconsin primary in April, ending Weening's involvement in his campaign.

Business career

Publishing

In 1972, Weening founded Advanced Learning Concepts. It was a Milwaukee-based educational publishing company specializing in books and teaching materials for early childhood education and developmentally disabled children based on research from the Waisman Center at the University of Wisconsin.

The company expanded into nonfiction information books for children kindergarten to twelfth grade in 1974, and the name was changed to Raintree Publishers. Subsidiaries were established for children's book publishing in the UK, Mexico, and France. In 1977, Weening became president and chief executive officer of Macdonald-Raintree Inc., a joint venture with the UK's British Printing Corporation and their Macdonald Educational Company. They published American editions of British educational titles like the International Wildlife Encyclopedia and British versions of Raintree Books including the 24-volume Raintree Illustrated Science Encyclopedia. Raintree was sold to Somerset House Corp. in 1985.

In 1981, Weening formed business information publisher, AgriData Resources, and launched Farm Futures, which because a 180,000-circulation business magazine aimed at commercial farmers and ranchers. Farm Futures is now owned and published by Farm Progress.

Online information services

In 1983, AgriData launched an online business information service for farmers and ranchers called ARI Network Services. Subscriptions for this service along with a Radio Shack TRS-80 personal computer for access, was sold exclusively in 8,000 U.S. Radio Shack stores. In 1985, IBM acquired 25% of ARI Network Services and distributed the service on IBM Information Network. The Company went public in 1991. In addition to IBM, investors included Paul Allen’s Vulcan Ventures and Wisconsin Energy.

Investment firm

Weening founded Quaestus & Co., Inc., a private equity investment firm, in 1985. Quaestus specializes in early-stage technology and media companies. Quaestus held 21 percent of ARI Network Services at its 1991 public offering and served as manager of CML Holdings LLC, an entity also holding interests in Gem Radio Network and Cumulus. Weening continues to serve as QUAESTUS President and chief executive officer.

Broadcasting

Weening built a radio network in the Eastern Caribbean in the mid-1980s. He became the Chairman of Caribbean Communications Co., which operated the GEM Radio Network from headquarters on the British island of Montserrat. A second company, called Caribbean Paging and Information Services, was formed as a joint venture with Cable and Wireless plc, the UK-based operator of telephone services in the Eastern Caribbean. This company used the sub-carriers of Gem Radio to provide operated paging services throughout the region.

In 1997, Weening and Lewis Dickey, a radio programming consultant for Gem Radio, founded Cumulus Media. The Telecommunications Act of 1996, which removed limits on station ownership, made it possible for Cumulus to acquire multiple stations in a market. Cumulus bought stations in small and mid-sized markets to build a cluster of stations each with its own programming format to offer advertisers access to a larger range of demographics.

Inside a year, the company acquired more than 130 stations. Cumulus went public in June 1998. By 2000, it operated or had agreed to buy 304 stations in 60 markets. That year, in the aftermath of the dot-com bubble, the Cumulus share price fell from a high of $55.43 to below $20. As a result, Cumulus’ president, William Bungeroth resigned, shareholder suits followed, and its auditor resigned in April. In December 2003, the SEC alleged that Cumulus Media and three former officers, Weening, chief financial officer Richard Bonick, and vice president of finance Daniel O'Donnell, had violated federal securities laws in 1999 by prematurely recording advertising revenue, causing the company to overstate its net revenues and understate its net losses for two quarters of that year. In January 2004, without admitting or denying the allegations, Weening consented to a permanent injunction against future violations of the Exchange Act's record-keeping and internal-controls provisions and agreed to pay a $75,000 civil penalty. Weening turned his executive role over to his partner, Lew Dickey, but remained on the board until 2004.

Fragrance

In 2001, Weening was invited to join the board of a French technology consulting company called Prolitec SA, which specializes in liquid to vapor conversion technologies. In 2004, QUAESTUS acquired Prolitec and moved its headquarters and laboratory to the U.S. where the fragrance technology was further developed into a computer-controlled way to diffuse fragrance into the air producing a hypoallergenic scent experience without using heat or any process that might alter and compromise the fragrance chemistry. Today, Prolitec Inc.is a scent-experience media company providing ambient scenting as a service to global retail and hospitality as well as airports, and other public places in the United States and 95 countries.