REPORT FOR THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
SUBJECT: Ambassadorial Nomination: Certificate of Demonstrated Competence — Foreign Service Act, Section 304(a)(4)
POST: Kingdom of Spain and the Principality of Andorra
CANDIDATE: Richard Duke Buchan III
Mr. Buchan is the Founder (2001) and CEO of Hunter Global Investors L.P., based in Palm Beach, FL. Hunter invests in global markets including real estate, venture capital, private equity, funds and public securities. The firm’s investments have outperformed relevant benchmarks over time. Mr. Buchan is also actively involved in a number of educational and philanthropic causes. For example, in 2011 his family established The Buchan Excellence Fund, the largest single endowment at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill focused on Spanish languages, literature and culture. The fund supports, among other things, a video exchange program between American and Spanish schoolchildren. Mr. Buchan’s analytical and financial management skills, his leadership in business and philanthropy, and his language skills and deep appreciation for the Spanish people and culture, make him well qualified to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain and the Principality of Andorra.
Prior to founding Hunter, Mr. Buchan was a Managing Director at MCL Corporation in Dallas, Texas and New York, New York (1997-2001), and a Vice President – Investment Banking, Global Financial Institutions Group at Merrill Lynch in New York, New York (1992-1997). He currently serves as Vice Chair on The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Arts and Sciences Foundation Board of Directors. Mr. Buchan grew up on a working farm in rural North Carolina. He, his wife and their children continue family traditions and manage a farm that grows over 60 varieties of organic, heirloom tomatoes and other vegetables. They run a farm stand, develop new varieties of tomatoes and donate fresh produce to local charities.
Mr. Buchan received a BA in Economics & Spanish from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1985, and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1991. He also attended La Universidad de Valencia in Valencia, Spain, and La Universidad de Sevilla in Seville, Spain. He speaks Spanish, and has a working knowledge of Catalan.