Cisco Minthorn

Cisco Minthorn serves as ITI’s Vice President for Government Affairs. In his role, Cisco leads the organization’s international trade advocacy, including digital trade and market access agreements, and contributes to ITI’s overarching legislative and political strategy. 

Prior to joining ITI, Cisco was Senior Director of Government Relations and Senior Counsel at Intel Corporation’s Global Government Affairs group, based in Washington, DC. At Intel, Cisco was one of the company’s lead U.S. lobbyists, working on nearly every key lobbying victory over more than half a decade. His advocacy wins included securing substantial increases in federal appropriations to support the Aurora exascale project collaboration between Intel and Argonne National labs, and the passages of the National Quantum Initiative Act, the AI National Security Commission Act, the OPEN Government Data Act, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, and the CHIPS for America Act. During his time at Intel, in addition to his U.S.-focused work, Cisco gained international experience working on China policy issues and completing a rotation in the company’s Brussels office where he examined the impact of EU investments into indigenous technologies and its ramifications on the global competitiveness of the U.S. semiconductor industry.

Prior to joining Intel, Cisco served in the Obama Administration as a Senior Advisor to U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Penny Pritzker, and oversaw the Department of Commerce’s legislative agenda related to economic development initiatives. Prior to his service in the Obama Administration, Cisco worked on Capitol Hill for several years, serving as counsel to three congressional committees in the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives (House Committee on Natural Resources, Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Senate Committee on Indian Affairs), where he focused on a wide variety of matters related to energy, natural resources and environment policy, and American Indian tribal issues.

An attorney, Cisco earned both a Juris Doctor and Master of Urban Planning degrees from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He is a citizen of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, and resides in Alexandria, Virginia, with his wife Erin, and their dog.