Ronald P. Spogli was sworn in as U.S. Ambassador to Italy on August 10, 2005. He was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1948 and received his A.B. in history from Stanford University in 1970, having been elected to Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year. He received his M.B.A. from Harvard University in 1975.

In 1983, together with Bradford M. Freeman, Mr. Spogli founded Freeman Spogli & Co., one of the leading private equity investors in the United States. Based in Los Angeles, Freeman Spogli & Co. has invested in 36 companies since the firm’s founding, totaling in excess of $12 billion of enterprise value.

Mr. Spogli has been a member of the Boards of Directors of over two dozen companies. Currently he serves on the Boards of AFC Enterprises, Inc., Regents Bancshares, and Winebow, Inc., among others.

From 1968 to 1973, Mr. Spogli spent two and one-half years in Italy working on various Stanford University-sponsored activities. He was a student at Stanford’s Florence campus from September 1968 until March 1969, and from June 1970 until July 1971, he was Assistant to the Directors of the Florence program. Finally, from June 1972 until August 1973, he lived in Milan where he was lead researcher for a project studying the social impact of labor migration from Southern Italy to the Italian industrial north.

His most significant personal interests have included international education and international relations. Since 2001, he has been a member of Stanford’s Overseas Studies Council, a faculty/alumni body that advises on Stanford’s International studies programs. In 2000, he became a member of the Board of Visitors of Stanford’s Institute for International Studies, the University’s primary forum for interdisciplinary research on key international issues and challenges.

Consistent with these interests, he has endowed two university positions: first, The Gesue and Helen Spogli Professorship in Italian Studies; second, The Spogli Family Overseas Studies Director position at the Florence, Italy campus.

In 2002, he was appointed to the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship board by President George W. Bush.