Henry C. Pitney

Acting General Counsel

Henry C. Pitney serves as Acting General Counsel for the Millennium Challenge Corporation.  He oversees the operations of the Office of the General Counsel, provides advice and guidance to senior management on legal and policy matters, and assists with OGC’s duties as counsel to the Board of Directors, all in close coordination with the General Counsel. 

Mr. Pitney brings extensive experience in emerging markets finance and management to MCC.  Prior to joining the MCC in 2007, Mr. Pitney served as Assistant General Counsel to the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC).  While at OPIC, he helped U.S. businesses invest overseas, and structured and negotiated transactions in emerging markets.  He worked on private equity, structured and project finance transactions, and political risk and insurance matters, including claims, and advised sponsors and financiers on managing risks associated with foreign direct investment.  Prior to joining OPIC, Mr. Pitney worked for the Asian Development Bank, in Manila, Philippines, where he was most recently the Head of ADB’s Private Sector Legal Group within the Office of the General Counsel from 2000-2004.  In that capacity, Mr. Pitney oversaw the delivery of legal services by lawyers working on non-sovereign operations in the infrastructure, private equity, political risk and partial credit risk areas.  While at ADB, he was part of a small team that successfully launched the bank’s political risk guaranty product, including model form documentation.  During the 1990s Mr. Pitney worked extensively on the sovereign, non-sovereign lending and legal technical assistance operations of ADB, and negotiated with numerous banks, corporations, investors and governments on infrastructure, private equity, microfinance, restructuring, and workouts.  Mr. Pitney oversaw various law reform projects in the PRC on the bankruptcy and reorganization of state owned enterprises from 1994-2002, including review and commentary on successive drafts of China’s new bankruptcy code. 

Mr. Pitney received his bachelor’s degree in political science and Spanish from Middlebury College. He earned his master’s degree in East Asian Studies from the University of Michigan and speaks Mandarin Chinese.  He was awarded his Juris Doctor from Columbia University Law School and is a member of the bar of the State of New York.