Charles Joseph "Butch" Swindells (born 1942) [1] is a former United States Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa. He was appointed to the position by U.S. President George W. Bush on June 5 2001 with the strong support of his home state of Oregon's two U.S. Senators. [2] He served from 2001 to 2005.
Swindells earned a B.S. from Lewis & Clark College in 1964, and served as a trustee there from 1998 to 2001. [2] He also attended Willamette University College of Law. After law school, he went into finance and investing. [2] 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). [3] [4] He later co-founded Capital Trust Co., which became one of the largest trust companies in the Northwest, in 1981. [5]
Swindells has served on the board of directors of Swift Energy Company and The Greenbrier Companies. [6]