Ronald P. Spogli is the former United States Ambassador to the Italian Republic and to the Republic of San Marino. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on June 30, 2005 and served until February 6, 2009. In 2008, he received the Sue M. Cobb Award for Exemplary Diplomatic Service, the only honor given by the State Department to a political appointee ambassador.

In 1983, together with Bradford M. Freeman, Spogli founded Freeman Spogli & Co., one of the leading middle market private equity investors in the United States. Based in Los Angeles and with offices in New York, Freeman Spogli & Co. has invested in 59 companies with aggregate values of over $22 billion. In the course of his activities, Ambassador Spogli has served on the board of directors of over twenty companies and organizations, including the Investment Committee at California Institute of Technology, and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Currently, he serves on the Boards of Trustees of The J. Paul Getty Trust, Public Storage, the W. M. Keck Foundation, the Center for American Studies in Rome, Italy, and of White Bridge Investments, an Italian investment company.

 As a result of his university and life experiences, Ambassador Spogli is a champion of international studies and dedicated supporter of his alma mater, Stanford University, where he has endowed two university positions: the Gesue and Helen Spogli Professorship in Italian Studies and The Spogli Family Overseas Studies Director position at the Florence, Italy campus. Together with his business partner and friend for over thirty-five years, Bradford M. Freeman, he endowed The Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI). FSI is a university-wide research and education institution at Stanford devoted to understanding the problems, policies, and processes that cross international borders and affect lives around the world. Through its interdisciplinary faculty and its 12 centers and research programs, the Institute advances knowledge and understanding of governance, health policy, migration, development, security, and the dynamics of regions such as Asia, Europe, and Latin America. The Institute's faculty lead interdisciplinary research programs, educate graduate and undergraduate students, and organize policy outreach that engages Stanford in solving some of the world's most pressing problems.

A California native, Ambassador Spogli received his A.B. in history from Stanford University in 1970 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year. He earned an MBA degree at Harvard Business School in 1975. Having lived and worked abroad in Florence and Milan for two years during his time at Stanford, he became fluent in Italian and developed a keen interest in international affairs.

 Ambassador Spogli was born in Los Angeles on March 25, 1948 and is married to Georgia Beth Caudle. They have two children.