FP Virtual Dialogue: At the Nexus of Health Care & Infrastructure

Sean Cairncross was nominated by President Donald J. Trump to serve as Chief Executive Officer of the Millennium Challenge Corporation on January 8, 2018.  Prior to joining MCC, Mr. Cairncross served as a Deputy Assistant to President Trump and Senior Advisor to the White House Chief of Staff.  Before his work at the White House, Mr. Cairncross served as the Chief Operating Officer of the Republican National Committee for the 2016 election cycle.   Mr. Cairncross was also a partner at Holtzman Vogel Josefiak, PLLC, and served as general counsel to VogelHood Research.  Previously, he served as the Deputy Executive Director and General Counsel to the National Republican Senatorial Committee for two election cycles from 2009 to 2012 under Senator John Cornyn (R-TX).  He joined the Republican National Committee in 2004 and served two and a half election cycles and served as Chief Counsel to the RNC during the 2008 election cycle.  Earlier in his career, he was as a litigation associate at Covington & Burling in Washington D.C. Mr. Cairncross 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.

Mr. Fidelis Magalhães leads Timor-Leste’s efforts to develop a Compact agreement with the United States of America’s Millennium Challenge Corporation.  He also assists the Prime Minister in coordinating the government and serves as the government’s official spokesperson. Previously, Mr. Magalhães served as Minister of Legislative Reforms and Parliamentary Affairs and the acting Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs and Minister for Tourism Trade and Industry.  Mr. Magalhães also served as the Chairperson of the Asia Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (2018-2019). Prior to joining government, he served as Parliamentarian where he headed his party’s parliamentary group, and Chaired the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Security.  He was an Expert on South East Asia-EU Relations as part of the Consortium of Leading European and Asian Research Universities (On hold due to political role); Chief of Staff to President Taur Matan Ruak; Head of High Level National Consensus Dialogue on Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation.  He has also worked with the UNHCR on refugee repatriation and external relations.  He was the 2017 recipient of the Order of Timor-Leste for public service. Mr. Magalhães was educated at Harvard University, London School of Economics, University of Lisbon, and University of Hawaii-Manoa.

His Excellency Sankatana Gabriel Maja has a background in Finance and Administration having studied at National University of Lesotho and Centre for Accounting Studies. Prior to his appointment to serve as an Ambassador he worked for CARE as the Administrative/Finance Officer and USAID as the Finance/Administrative Manager.  He later joined United States Peace Corps Training Unit as the Assistant Training Director handling the overall training finances, budgets, traveling, procurement, logistics.  Ambassador Maja also worked for the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) as an advisor to the Resident Country Director and Deputy Resident Country on matters relating to the successful completion of Compact I MCC.  He has also been trained on project management as well as community financing for middle level management in Kinshasa, Zaire (DRC). He was also trained in Health Services Management and Administration in Lusaka, Zambia while working for Christian Health Association of Lesotho.

Carol Pineau is an award-winning filmmaker and journalist with nearly 20 years experience reporting on Africa.  Her groundbreaking film, Africa Open for Business, and the advocacy campaign accompanying the film, helped change the coverage in major media on Africa.  It was voted BBC Documentary of the Year and won several other awards. Additional film credits include Africa Investment Horizons and Kenya Stories. Ms. Pineau recently hosted and produced a pilot for a new current affairs program, Africa-USA Now, and she was the host and producer of a 10-part current events talk show, Africa and the Trump Administration. Ms. Pineau has reported and produced numerous television news stories for major international media. While living in Paris in the 1990’s, she hosted Radio France Internationale Crossroads, a half-hour worldwide radio show that reported on Africa, for Africa. She also presented African and international news for the French overseas television RFO (Radio-Television de France Outre-Mer).  Ms. Pineau is the author of numerous articles as well as a book.  Her writing on Africa has appeared in major publications throughout the world.