Charles Joseph "Butch" Swindells (born 1942) is a former

United States Ambassador to New Zealand The United States has maintained a Consul (representative), consular presence in New Zealand since 1838. The first consul was James Reddy Clendon. Born in England, Clendon was a ship owner and merchant who bought land and settled in the Bay of Is ...

and

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

. He was appointed to the position by U.S. President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

, with the strong support of his home state of

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

's two U.S. Senators. He served from 2001 to 2005. Swindells earned a B.S. from

Lewis & Clark College Lewis & Clark College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Originally chartered in 1867 as the Albany Collegiate Institute in Albany, Oregon, the college was relocated to Portland in 1938 and in 1942 adopted the name Lewis & Cl ...

in 1964, and served as a trustee there from 1998 to 2001. He also attended

Willamette University College of Law Willamette University College of Law is the law school of Willamette University. Located in Salem, Oregon, and founded in 1883, Willamette is the oldest law school in the Pacific Northwest. It has approximately 24 full-time law professors and e ...

. After law school, he went into finance and investing. In 1968, he and law school roommate Jeffrey Grayson founded Capital Consultants together; Swindells left that company in 1985 (and was not involved in the company's financial scandal of the late 1990s). He later co-founded Capital Trust Co., which became one of the largest trust companies in the Northwest, in 1981. Swindells has served on the board of directors of Swift Energy Company and

The Greenbrier Companies The Greenbrier Companies is an American publicly traded transportation manufacturing corporation based in Lake Oswego, Oregon, United States. Greenbrier specializes in transportation services, notably marine barge and freight railcar manufacturin ...

References

1942 births Living people Businesspeople from Oregon Ambassadors of the United States to New Zealand Ambassadors of the United States to Samoa Willamette University College of Law alumni Lewis & Clark College alumni 21st-century American diplomats {{Oregon-politician-stub

See also

References