Sean Cairncross

Sean Cairncross is the president of The Cairncross Group, a strategic consultancy in Washington D.C., and is a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue.

Mr. Cairncross served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and on its Board of Directors from 2019 to 2021. MCC is an independent U.S. government agency at the cutting edge of sustainable, inclusive global development. As CEO, Mr. Cairncross oversaw a global investment portfolio of over $13 billion in active management. In this role, he dealt directly with foreign heads of state and was responsible for building relationships with the agency’s partner countries — who are committed to good governance, economic freedom, and investing in their citizens — on behalf of the United States government. While leading MCC, Mr. Cairncross focused the agency’s work on increasing partner countries’ economic growth through private sector engagement, market expansion, and the advancement of women’s economic participation.

Prior to his presidential nomination and Senate confirmation to MCC in 2019, Mr. Cairncross served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior White House Advisor to the Chief of Staff where he provided counsel on a variety of issues including matters related to national security. He sat proxy on the National Security Council Principals Committee on behalf of the Chief of Staff. Earlier in his career, Mr. Cairncross was a partner at the law firm of Holtzman Vogel Josefiak Torchinsky.

Mr. Cairncross began his career at Covington & Burling and holds a J.D. from NYU School of Law, an M.Phil. from Cambridge University, and a B.A., summa cum laude, from American University.