Cindy McCain | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2022 | |
| Executive Director of the World Food Programme | |
| Assumed office April 5, 2023 | |
| Secretary General | António Guterres |
| Preceded by | David Beasley |
| 12th United States Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture | |
| In office November 5, 2021 – April 5, 2023 | |
| President | Joe Biden |
| Preceded by | Kip E. Tom |
| Succeeded by | Rodney Hunter (Chargé d'Affaires) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Cindy Lou Hensley May 20, 1954 Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican[1] |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4, including Meghan |
| Relatives | Jim Hensley (father) |
| Education | University of Southern California (BA, MA) |
Cindy Lou McCain (née Hensley; born May 20, 1954)[2] is an American diplomat, businesswoman, and humanitarian who is the executive director of the World Food Programme. McCain previously served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture from 2021 to 2023. She is the widow of U.S. Senator John McCain from Arizona, who was the 2008 Republican presidential nominee.
McCain was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, and is a daughter of wealthy beer distributor Jim Hensley. After receiving bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Southern California, she became a special education teacher. She married John McCain in 1980, and the couple moved to Arizona in 1981, where her husband was elected to the United States Congress the following year and reelected five more times. The couple had three children together, in addition to adopting another. From 1988 to 1995, she founded and operated a nonprofit organization, the American Voluntary Medical Team, which organized trips by medical personnel to disaster-stricken or war-torn third-world areas.
Upon her father's death in 2000, she inherited majority control and became chair of Hensley & Co., one of the largest Anheuser-Busch beer distributors in the United States. She participated in both of her husband's presidential campaigns and, in 2008, drew both positive and negative scrutiny for her appearance, demeanor, wealth, spending habits, and financial obligations. She continued to be an active philanthropist and served on the boards of Operation Smile, Eastern Congo Initiative, CARE, and HALO Trust, frequently making overseas trips in conjunction with their activities. During the 2010s, she became prominent in the fight against human trafficking. From 2017 until his death the following year, she dealt with her husband's battle against glioblastoma.
McCain has remained visible in public life since then. While herself a Republican, she made a cross-party endorsement of Joe Biden in the 2020 United States presidential election. She was nominated to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture ambassadorship by President Biden in June 2021 and confirmed by the Senate in October 2021. Much of her tenure in that position focused on dealing with the 2022–2023 food crises largely caused by the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and the effects of climate change on agriculture.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
kjzz-staywas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Bio of Cindy Hensley McCain". Chicago Tribune. April 15, 2008. Retrieved April 22, 2008.[permanent dead link]