Cindy Lou Hensley McCain, born May 20, 1954, in Phoenix, Arizona, as an only child, is an American businesswoman, philanthropist, and humanitarian. She earned a B.A. in education and an M.A. in special education from the University of Southern California before briefly teaching at Agua Fria High School in Avondale, Arizona. She married Senator John McCain in 1980 and became the widow of the late senator. Following her father's death in 2000, she took over as chair of the family-owned Hensley Beverage Company, one of the largest Anheuser-Busch distributors in the U.S. In 1988, she founded the American Voluntary Medical Team (AVMT), leading medical missions to developing countries until 1995. In 1994, McCain admitted to a painkiller addiction stemming from a shoulder injury, confessing to stealing drugs from AVMT; she entered rehabilitation, repaid the organization, and avoided criminal charges amid public scrutiny. Active in her husband's 2000 and 2008 presidential campaigns, she chaired the Arizona delegation to the 2000 Republican National Convention. She has advocated against human trafficking as co-chair of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer's Task Force and served on boards including Operation Smile (with missions in India, Morocco, and Vietnam), CARE, HALO Trust, and the McCain Institute's Human Trafficking Advisory Council. Her humanitarian work spans aid in regions like Cambodia, Sierra Leone, Chad, and Congo, emphasizing women's and children's issues. In 2020, McCain endorsed Joe Biden, predicting a 'new Republican Party,' and joined his transition advisory board. From 2021 to 2023, she served as U.S. Ambassador to the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture in Rome under the Biden administration. Appointed Executive Director of the World Food Programme in April 2023, she led global hunger relief efforts until stepping down in early 2026 following a mild stroke in October 2025, citing health recovery needs.