Richard Nelson

As Power Africa Coordinator, Richard oversees the U.S. government’s decade long initiative to double access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030. With over 200 partners from the private sector, African countries, other donor nations, and multilateral institutions, Power Africa is one of the largest public-private initiatives in existence and collectively is transforming the face of Africa. 

Richard joined Power Africa after serving as the Mission Director for USAID/Uganda. In that role, he oversaw an expansive assistance portfolio encompassing health (HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria, reproductive health, infectious diseases), economic growth, education, democracy/governance, and humanitarian programs. Prior to Uganda he was the Deputy Coordinator for Power Africa based in South Africa, supporting the initiative’s work directly on the continent. Before that, Richard was a USAID legal officer based in Pretoria, Bangkok, Baghdad and Washington, D.C. where he supported USAID numerous USAID missions working to advance the Agency’s development objectives. 

Prior to joining USAID as a Foreign Service Officer, Richard worked at Dell Inc in Austin, Texas, where he helped lead global site selection efforts as well as Dell’s corporate social responsibility activity in India. Before joining Dell, he was a Vice President at Wachovia Securities, an investment bank in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he managed a $1B portfolio of syndicated credit in the aerospace, health and government contracting sectors. Prior to joining the bank he was an attorney with McGuireWoods, a major US law firm, where he primarily focused on capital markets debt transactions. 

Richard is a graduate of Harvard Law School (JD ’98) and Brigham Young University (BA ’95). He and his wife, Diana, have three daughters.