Bill Richardson served in the Clinton administration first as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (1997-1998) and then as secretary of energy from 1998 to 2001.

Richardson was born in Pasadena, California, in 1947. He earned his bachelor's degree from Tufts University in 1970 and his master's degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in 1971.

Richardson was a congressional relations aide in the State Department from 1973 to 1975 before working on the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee from 1975 to 1978. He also served briefly as the executive director of the New Mexico Democratic Party (1978). From 1978 to 1982, he was president of the Richardson Trade Group. He served as a congressman from New Mexico from 1982 to 1997.