Ambassador Mercer Reynolds III is the co-chairman of
Cincinnati-based investment firm Reynolds, DeWitt & Co., and Chairman and
CEO of Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro,
Georgia. He currently serves on the boards of
directors of Restaurant Management, Inc., Sena Weller Rohs Williams, and
Hillstreet Capital Partners, Ltd.
Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Ambassador Reynolds received his undergraduate
degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1967, and his M.B.A.
from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
in 1968. He began his career in the U.S.
Army, and in 1969 joined the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Thomas, Inc. in Chattanooga. In 1974 he joined Gradison & Company (Cincinnati) as an account
executive and then in 1975 he became a vice president for Thomson, McKinnon
Securities, an investment banking company.
In 1979, together with his friend and business partner, William O.
DeWitt, Jr., he founded Reynolds, DeWitt & Co., an investment firm based in
Cincinnati, Ohio.
He served as co-chairman of the company from 1979 to 2001. He also served as chairman and CEO of
Reynolds Plantation a 12,000-acre lake and golf community on Lake Oconee,
east of Atlanta, Georgia from 1985-2001. In August 2001, as required by the Department
of State, he resigned his management and board positions from more than 30
companies to assume the post of U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland
and Liechtenstein.
During the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign, Ambassador
Reynolds served as a member of the National Executive Committee and as chairman
of the campaign’s Ohio Finance Committee.
After the 2000 election, President George W. Bush named him as
co-chairman of the 2000 Presidential Inauguration Committee.
When Ambassador Reynolds returned to the United States
in April 2003, he served as National Finance Chairman of the Bush/Cheney ’04
campaign to re-elect the President and later as Finance Chairman of the
Republican National Committee Victory Program.
After the election he was asked to co-chair the 55th
Presidential Inaugural Committee.
Active in the community, Ambassador Reynolds is a member of
the Commonwealth Club and was involved as a mentor in the Cincinnati Youth
Collaborative. He has also been active
in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the National Coalition for the
Protection of Children and Families, the Reynolds Plantation Foundation, the Summit Country
Day School, the University
of Cincinnati Foundation, the University of North Carolina
Educational Foundation, and the University of North
Carolina – Carolina Campaign.
Ambassador Reynolds and his
wife, Gabrielle, have five children and one grandchild.