Nelson W. Cunningham most recently was Senior Advisor at the State Department to the Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, until January 2025. In 2024 President Biden nominated him to be Deputy US Trade Representative, but the Senate failed to act on his nomination.
He is the co-founder and former president of McLarty Associates, advising US and multinational companies, foundations and universities on economic and policy issues around the globe. Since 1998, he helped grow McLarty Associates into a global firm with a team of over 100 experts in 20 countries, and spearheaded the opening of offices in Brussels, Beijing, Singapore, and New Delhi. Before founding McLarty Associates, he worked in the Clinton White House on Latin American and trade issues, and previously was General Counsel to Senate Judiciary Chair Joseph R. Biden.
He is a member of the board of leading NGOs such as the Business Council for International Understanding (BCIU), and The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), and previously the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, the Institute of the Americas, the American Security Project, and Yale-NUS College in Singapore. He has also served on the Secretary of State’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board, the Department’s Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy, and the US ExIm Bank Advisory Committee, where he was chair.
He grew up in seven Latin American countries, the son of an American businessman, and graduated from Yale College and Stanford Law School.