Rico studied Business Studies and Economics at the University of Bremen in Germany until 2005 before joining the Chair of Innovative Brand Management at the University of Bremen as a Research Assistant. The University of Bremen awarded him the degree Doctor of Economics and Social Sciences for his doctoral thesis Internal Brand Management with the top grade summa cum laude in 2010. After gaining practical experiences as a Consultant and Senior Consultant at the KEYLENS Research Center from 2010 to 2013, Rico returned to the University of Bremen as an Assistant Professor in 2013. He worked at the Chair of Innovative Brand Management (since 2018: Working Group Innovative Brand Management at the markstones Institute of Marketing, Branding & Technology) until 2019. In 2020, Rico joined the Department of Marketing at Macquarie University as a Lecturer in Marketing. 

Rico’s research that focuses on internal & employer branding, brand communication & social media marketing and city branding has been published in leading marketing and branding journals, such as the Journal of Product & Brand Management, Journal of Brand Management, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Journal of Service Theory and Practice and European Journal of Marketing. He regularly presents at international conferences, such as the AMS Annual Conference and AMS World Marketing Congress, AMA Winter Academic Conference and EMAC Annual Conference.

His teaching experiences include teaching various marketing courses (e.g., Marketing, Strategic Marketing, Marketing Exercises, Brand Management, Consumer Behaviour & Marketing Research, Market Research and Applied Multivariate Data Analysis in Marketing) across different settings at several educational institutions.

His professional network with strong ties to the industry results from managing numerous collaborations with companies, government and professional bodies, and management consulting firms.