Ambassador Richard N. Holwill (Ret.)

Last Name: Holwill

Middle Name: N.

First Name: Richard

ACNSL Offices and Committees:

Rank: Ambassador

Service/Department: U.S. Department of State/U.S. Ambassador to Ecuador

Last or Significant Assignment: Counselor for Arms Control and Disarmament during the negotiations toward the second Strategic Arms Reduction Negotiations.

Areas of Expertise: Expert on international trade and has been keynote speaker at several trade-policy conferences.

Richard Holwill has extensive experience managing commercial diplomacy projects that resolved business problems in China, India, Russia, Brazil and other markets.  He served in the U.S. government as a senior official at the U.S. State Department and as U.S. Ambassador to Ecuador.  He was Counselor for Arms Control and Disarmament during the negotiations toward the second Strategic Arms Reduction Negotiations. He served on the Panama Canal Commission in the 1980’s.

His commercial experience includes investment banking and business development in Latin America. In addition to a bachelor’s degree in history from Louisiana State University, he earned a certificate in international finance from the Wharton School of Business. He is a Vietnam Era veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps

He is an opinion leader and has been chair or co-chair of several committees at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers. He represented those organizations in testimony before committees of the U.S. Congress. He has been a guest lecturer at China’s National University for Law and Politics; at Xiamen University in China; at Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government. He is known as an expert on international trade and has been keynote speaker at several trade-policy conferences.

He has been published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Foreign Policy Magazine, The Hill, and in Ambassador’s Review.