Alan Patricof and Lorne Craner Join MCC’s Board of Directors

Washington, D.C.—Two representatives from the private sector, Alan Patricof and Lorne Craner, join the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s Board of Directors. Both were confirmed by the Senate on June 22, 2007, and they were appointed by the President to assume the duties of an MCC Board member.

The MCC Board is comprised of the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the U.S. Trade Representative, the USAID Administrator, the MCC CEO, and four non-government representatives with international experience appointed by the President from lists submitted by the minority and majority leaders of the House of Representatives and the United States Senate and confirmed by the Senate.

“We are very excited to have two distinguished professionals from the private sector with decades of international expertise join the MCC Board,” said MCC CEO John Danilovich. “Mr. Patricof and Mr. Craner will add valuable leadership and knowledge to achieve MCC’s mission of helping countries reduce poverty through sustainable economic growth.”

Alan Patricof is founder and Managing Director, Greycroft, LLC, a venture capital firm focused on the digital media sector. A longtime innovator and advocate for venture capital, Mr. Patricof entered the industry in its formative days with the creation of Patricof & Co. Ventures Inc., a predecessor to Apax Partners, Inc. of which he was founder and chairman. In 2006, this led to his formation of Greycroft Partners.

During the past 40 years, Mr. Patricof has also applied his knowledge and experience on a pro bono basis to address social inequities in the developing world, traveling extensively in Asia, Latin America, and Africa and writing extensively on venture capital and the challenges these regions face. He has served as an advisor to the International Finance Corporation, the commercial arm of the World Bank; a member of the UNDP Commission on Private Sector & Development; a member of the African Policy Board of the Council on Foreign Relations; an Advisory Board member of the African Venture Capital Association; and a Board Member of the Nigerian Honorary International Investor Council.

Mr. Patricof holds a BS in finance from Ohio State University and an MBA from Columbia University Graduate School of Business.

Lorne Craner has served as President for the International Republican Institute (IRI) since August 2004, and has led the organization to strengthen IRI’s programs in countries such as China, Colombia, Pakistan, Russia and Turkey.

Previously, Mr. Craner was Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor for U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell. Among other accomplishments during his tenure, he helped construct the Millennium Challenge Account’s “good governance’ criteria. Upon his departure from the State Department, Secretary Powell presented Mr. Craner with the Distinguished Service Award, the department’s highest honor.

From 1992 to 1993, Mr. Craner was Director of Asian Affairs at the National Security Council under Brent Scowcroft. From 1989 to 1992, he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs. He also served as Senator John McCain’s Foreign Policy Advisor from 1986 to 1989. Mr. Craner began his career as the Foreign Policy Advisor to then Congressman Jim Kolbe.

A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Mr. Craner received his master’s degree in National Security Studies from Georgetown University and his bachelor's degree from Reed College in Portland, Oregon.

Full bios of MCC’s newest Board members can be found by visiting: http://www.mcc.gov/about/boardofdirectors/index.php

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Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a United States government corporation designed to work with some of the poorest countries in the world, is based on the principle that aid is most effective when it reinforces good governance, economic freedom, and investments in people that promote economic growth and elimination of extreme poverty.