Richard N. Swett was nominated by President Clinton to be Ambassador to Denmark in 1998 where he presented his credential to H.M. Queen Margrethe II.

In 1990, Richard Swett was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. In Congress, he served on the Committees on Public Works and Transportation; Science, Space and Technology; the U.S. Congressional Delegation for Relations with the European Parliament and the Congressional Human Rights Caucus. 

Ambassador Swett’s business experience encompasses architectural design, project management, corporate management, project development, and finance. He has developed and financed Independent Clean Power plants in the Northeast as well as consulted on energy technology projects and assisted with financing in the Eastern and Central European countries of Romania and Hungary. He is a licensed architect in the states of California and New Hampshire. He currently is the CEO and co-founder of Climate PROSPERITY Enterprise Solutions, LLC, a project development firm using proprietary software methodology to model and build integrated Sustainable Solar Communities in emerging markets in Africa, South America and Bhutan by combining architecture, energy and enterprise economics. Just prior to establishing CPES he served as the Managing Principal of the Leo A. Daly Architects and Engineers Washington, DC office.

Ambassador Swett holds positions on numerous corporate boards and the Concord Coalition Board of Advisors and the Fix the Debt Board of Advisors. He is the author of the book, Leadership by Design: Creating an Architecture of Trust. 

He received a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture from Yale University. While there, he was awarded the Timothy Dwight College Master’s Cup, served as captain of the track team and still holds the University record in the decathlon.

The U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce named Ambassador Swett one of Ten Outstanding Young Americans in 1993. He was also named one of the Ten Most Influential People in New Hampshire by NH Business Magazine. He has been twice awarded the Presidential Citation by the AIA, and has been awarded numerous honorary degrees and awards. He served as one of six panelists who helped the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation select the design teams to perform the design studies for the redevelopment of the World Trade Center after the 911 attacks. He also served as a juror for the 2013 Solar Decathlon competition sponsored by the DoE.

He received the Arnold W. Brunner Award from the New York Chapter of the AIA for his work on leadership in the Architecture profession. Grants for continuing this work have also been awarded by the Design Futures Council and the Velux Foundation, Denmark.

Ambassador Swett is married to Katrina Lantos Swett. They are the proud parents of eight children and grandparents of ten--soon to be eleven--grandchildren.