Michael McGirr

Past National Program Lead, USDA - National Institute of Food and Agriculture
TVL Board of Directors

A National Program Leader for 19 years in the Center for International Programs at USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), he was responsible for developing and managing foreign and domestic projects in collaboration with U.S. universities. From 1990 to 1996, Mr. McGirr managed the agency’s Polish/American Extension Project, which involved collaboration with 31 land-grant institutions. He went on to develop agency initiatives in the former Soviet Republics, Central America, Africa, and Iraq. From 2011-2014, he oversaw the Afghanistan Agricultural Extension Project. While at NIFA, he also launched the National Initiative to Internationalize Extension – an effort aimed at strengthening the global dimension of state and local extension programs here in the United States.

Mr. McGirr has served on the boards of several non-profit organizations, including Friends of Sierra Leone (FoSL) and Canadian Physicians for Aid and Relief (CPAR); and, in 2013-14, was President of the Association for International Agriculture and Rural Development (AIARD). He began his career in international development as a Peace Corps volunteer in Pujehun District, Sierra Leone. He received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and a Master’s in International Public Policy from Johns Hopkins University School for Advanced International Studies.