The Chemico Group CEO and Snowbirds founding member has helped raise $250,000 for minority youth in golf and says the mission is still growing.
Leon C. Richardson has spent nearly four decades building one of the most respected minority-owned companies in the United States. As founder, president, and chief executive officer of The Chemico Group, the largest minority-owned, veteran-owned chemical management and distribution company in the country, Richardson has grown the firm from a single-employee startup in 1989 into an internationally recognized operation serving the automotive, aerospace, and defense industries.
But Richardson’s reach doesn’t stop at the boardroom. As a founding member of the Snowbirds host committee, he has helped steer a small group of Detroit-area golf enthusiasts living in Florida into a philanthropy engine that has raised $250,000 for minority youth in golf. The 5th Annual Snowbirds Golf Tournament Weekend, held Jan. 29 through 31, 2026, in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., marked a turning point: the event moved from its longtime home at Martin Downs Golf Club to PGA National, a course now owned by the Salamander Group. The Chemico Group served as title sponsor.
Rolling Out Sports sat down with Richardson to talk about the Snowbirds’ origins, its growth, and what comes next.
What initially drew you to becoming a founding member of the Snowbirds host committee?
I really thought golf was important to business. As I was exposed to business and golf, it helped me with my own business, so I wanted to get younger folks involved. We didn’t see a lot of minorities involved, so we started the Snowbirds to generate funds to help get kids exposed to golf at a much younger age, kids who are minorities or who typically wouldn’t have an opportunity like that.
Take us back to the early days of the Snowbirds. What did it look like when you were all getting off the ground?
It was about 15 folks, all living in the Florida area, originally from Detroit. We went to a golf course called Martin Downs, owned by Stanley and Cheryl Campbell, which is one of two Black-owned golf courses in Florida. We started just playing golf there, and then we decided to have a tournament to raise money for a young golfer who was Nigerian and trying to get on a European tour. We had the outing, raised money, and helped her onto a tour.
We wanted to continue that and donate money to historically Black colleges and universities. We found out there weren’t a lot of Black kids and kids of color playing at those universities because they couldn’t shoot a good score, and that’s because they hadn’t started young enough. So we started raising funds to get kids from the inner-city community exposed to golf at a really early age. That’s what started the Snowbirds.
Every organization has growing pains. What were some of the biggest challenges in building the Snowbirds?
Just getting everyone organized. None of us on the committee had ever run an entire golf program like this before, so we had to learn as we went. We had to understand the property, understand how to run a golf tournament, understand how to raise funds. There was a lot of work that went into putting the tournament on the first time, and we’re still learning five years later.
How has the Snowbirds evolved since its founding?
We started at Martin Downs and played there for four years. This year we moved to PGA National, where Salamander had bought the course, and that’s where we all started playing with them.
What does it mean to you personally to see how far the Snowbirds have come?
It’s personally gratifying. We started as just a few friends playing golf at Martin Downs, and we’ve grown this to where I think we’ve raised $250,000. This is our fifth tournament, we’ve had 144 golfers each year, and it’s grown into something where we’ve helped inner-city kids, high school teams, and college teams. To go from just a few friends playing golf to raising a quarter of a million dollars to help minorities get into golf, I think is pretty instrumental.
As a founding member, what core values have guided the Snowbirds over the years?
Honesty, integrity, inclusion, development.
What moment or milestone makes you most proud?
Every time we have a banquet after the tournament and bring the recipients up and donate a meaningful amount of money to people to continue their career in golf, it is just super rewarding. We had a video of some of the recipients giving testimonials on how much this meant to them, and it was really touching. It’s just rewarding to see the output of what we’re doing.
The Chemico Group stepped up as title sponsor for the 5th Annual Golf Tournament Weekend. What made this the right moment to make that commitment?
The Chemico Group has been committed to sponsorship since the onset, but this year we were changing from Martin Downs to the PGA facility owned by the Salamander Group, and it was a bit more expensive. We weren’t sure we could get all the right sponsors in place at the right time, so we committed to being the title sponsor for the next couple of years to get this going at a different facility.
How does serving as title sponsor align with the Chemico Group’s mission?
When I started Chemico 39 years ago, our mission was very clear. We serve the automotive, aerospace, and defense industries, and our commitment was to add value to our customer supply chain, add value to the communities in which we operate, and add value to the lives of our employees. This falls in the pillar of adding value in our community.
What are the Snowbirds’ goals for the next 5 to 10 years?
We just want to wash, rinse, and repeat. We want to provide more and more funds to students throughout North America, not just in the Detroit or Florida regions. Wherever we can find students that are in need: HBCUs, high schools, colleges, anywhere we can find kids who really want to get exposed to golf is where we want to take this.
How can others get involved to support the mission?
We’re always looking for sponsors, and we’re always looking for volunteers who can help with our event, help us train kids in golf, or provide financial support. That would be very helpful for our organization.