Chief Program Officer
Ambassador Cindy Dyer (ret.) is a human rights expert and lawyer with more than 30 years of experience working at the local, national, and international levels. Ambassador Dyer currently serves as the Chief Program Officer at the McCain Institute leading the design and delivery of the Institute’s Human Rights & Freedom, Democracy, and Leadership Programs. She has held presidentially appointed positions in the Departments of Justice, Defense, and State in both Republican and Democratic administrations.
From 2023-2025, she served as the Ambassador-at-Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons at the U.S. Department of State. She was nominated to serve in that role by President Joe Biden and was unanimously confirmed by the Senate. While Ambassador, she travelled to and directly engaged with government officials in 20 countries throughout every region of the world and oversaw a budget of over $300 million.
From 2021-2023, she worked at the U.S. Department of Defense serving on the Independent Review Commission on Sexual Assault in the Military (IRC) that was ordered by Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin, III, at the direction of President Biden. Her appointment was extended to assist the Department of Defense with the implementation and oversight of the IRC recommendations.
For 12 years, she was the Vice President for Human Rights at Vital Voices Global Partnership, an international NGO advancing women’s leadership. While at Vital Voices, she worked with local governmental and civil society leaders in more than 25 countries throughout Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Europe to improve and implement laws and policies related to human trafficking and gender-based violence.
From 2007 - 2009, she served as the Director of the Office on Violence Against Women at the U.S. Department of Justice. She was nominated to serve in that role by President George W. Bush and was unanimously confirmed by the Senate. As Director, she was responsible for developing the Department’s legal and policy positions regarding the implementation of the Violence Against Women Act and overseeing an annual budget of almost $400 million.
Ambassador Dyer began her career at the local level serving as a specialized domestic and sexual violence prosecutor in Dallas, Texas for more than 13 years and also served as a weekly hotline volunteer at a local women’s shelter for 9 years. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M in Business Administration and Management and her J.D. from Baylor Law School.
