Ambassador Rick Switzer is the Deputy United States Trade Representative. Prior to his appointment as Deputy USTR, he was the founder and principal of ProjX Technology Consulting. During Rick's 20 year career as a member of the Foreign Service he served as the State Department visiting professor at the National Intelligence University teaching graduate courses on China’s economy and innovation system, as a member of the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Council, and a Senior State Department Advisor to the Department of Defense working with the Air Force and the Army.
Other highlights include serving as the Environment, Science, Technology and Health Counselor at Embassy Beijing, the largest science section in the world. While on sabbatical from State, he also spent a year as a Senior Fellow at the Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP), a non-profit founded by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Before his government service, Rick co-founded a wireless technology start-up and also conducted innovation policy research at the University of California.
