American Swiss Foundation

Mercer Reynolds has served as Chairman of the American Swiss Foundation since February 2008. A former U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland, he currently serves as Co-Chairman of Reynolds, DeWitt & Co. and is Chairman and CEO of Reynolds Capital Group.  He has offices in Greensboro and Atlanta, Georgia, and serves as a member of several other boards. 

Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Mr. Reynolds earned degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (B.A., 1967) and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (MBA, 1968). He began his career with the Chattanooga-based Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Thomas, Inc. In 1974 he joined the financial firm Gradison & Company (Cincinnati), and in 1975 he became a vice president for Thomson, McKinnon Securities, an investment banking company. In 1979, with his friend William O. DeWitt, Jr., he founded Reynolds, DeWitt & Co. In 1985 he formed Linger Longer Development Company to begin work on Reynolds Plantation on Lake Oconee, Ga.  

In 2001 Mercer accepted an appointment to become the U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein.  Upon returning to the United States in April 2003, he became National Finance Chairman of the Bush/Cheney ’04 campaign to re-elect the President and later the Finance Chairman of the Republican National Committee Victory Program.  Mercer returned to Georgia in early 2005 to serve as Chairman and CEO of Linger Longer Companies.  

An active member of the community, Mercer has belonged to many civic organizations including the Commonwealth Club, the Cincinnati Youth Collaborative, and the Reynolds Foundation.  He is the Founding Chairman of the Oconee Performing Arts Society (OPAS), serves on the NCAA Leadership Advisory Board and is a member of the Steering Committee for the Bush Library Foundation.  Mercer and his wife, Gabrielle, have five children and five grandchildren.