PHOENIX — The United Nations on Thursday is expected to name Ambassador Cindy McCain as the next executive director of the World Food Program, the world's largest humanitarian relief organization, according to Politico.
The posting is a five-year appointment that starts April 5, according to Devex, which broke the news of McCain's new role.
The current WFP leader, David Beasley, posted a tweet Wednesday congratulating McCain.
McCain, who is 68, was sworn in two years ago as the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. agencies for food and agriculture in Rome.
McCain's new role will put her on the frontlines of the world's food crisis, much as her late husband, Arizona Sen. John McCain, sounded the alarm on global threats to freedom.
WFP responds to hunger crises caused by natural disasters, famine and war.
McCain was selected for the WFP job with the support of President Joe Biden. The WFP depends heavily on American financial support. Biden had also nominated McCain to the ambassador slot.
Biden has been a McCain family friend for decades.
Two years after her husband died, Cindy McCain endorsed Biden in 2020 over Donald Trump.
That linked the Democratic presidential nominee to one of the nation's highest profile Republicans, and established McCain as a power player in her own right.
Cindy McCain was chairman of the company her father founded, Phoenix-based Hensley Beverage Co., Arizona's largest beer and wine distributor.
She has graduate and undergraduate degrees from the University of Southern California.
She is a graduate of Phoenix's Central High School.
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