World Food Programme Executive Director, Cindy Hensley McCain, brings to the role a broad range of expertise and a deep commitment to ending hunger and malnutrition. Before joining WFP, she served as Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the United States Mission to the United Nations Agencies in Rome. A distinguished humanitarian, business leader and diplomat with a career spanning four decades, Executive Director McCain has championed a wide range of causes focused on alleviating poverty and promoting sustainable development and peace. As Executive Director, she is capitalizing on her broad experience to lead the organization’s response to the global food crisis. She is spearheading the effort to mobilize support from long-standing donors while also forging ambitious new partnerships to sustain WFP’s life-saving mission. Executive Director McCain is the former Chair of the Board of Trustees of the McCain Institute for International Leadership at Arizona State University, where she oversaw the organization’s focus on advancing character-driven global leadership. She has also served on the Board of Directors of Project C.U.R.E, CARE, Operation Smile, Halo Trust, and the Advisory Boards of Too Small To Fail and Warriors and Quiet Waters. Executive Director McCain holds an undergraduate degree in Education and a master’s degree in Special Education from the University of Southern California. She was the Chairman of her family’s business, Hensley Beverage Company. Executive Director McCain is the wife of the late U.S. Senator John McCain. Together, they have four children.
