UN Appoints Trump Nominee Luke Lindberg To Lead World Food Programme

The United Nations has appointed Luke Lindberg, a senior US agriculture official nominated by President Donald Trump, as the next executive director of the World Food Programme (WFP), as the UN food agency faces a major global hunger crisis and deepening funding pressure.

Lindberg, 37, currently serves as the US Department of Agriculture’s undersecretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs. His appointment was announced on Friday by UN Secretary General António Guterres and Food and Agriculture Organization Director General Qu Dongyu after consultations with the WFP Executive Board in Rome.

Lindberg will succeed Cindy McCain, who stepped down after serving as WFP executive director from April 2023 through May 2026. WFP Deputy Executive Director Carl Skau has been serving as acting chief during the leadership transition and will remain in the role until Lindberg takes over.

The appointment comes at a difficult time for the Rome based agency. WFP says as many as 266 million people are facing acute food insecurity worldwide because of conflict, extreme weather and economic hardship. The agency provides assistance to more than 100 million people across 83 countries, but funding constraints have sharply limited the number it can support.

WFP says it aims to assist around 110 million people this year, despite the much larger number facing acute hunger. The agency relies heavily on donations to provide food assistance during conflicts, disasters and other emergencies.

Lindberg also arrives with direct experience in US food aid and WFP operations. In February, he announced that the USDA intended to enter an agreement with WFP worth up to $452 million under the Food for Peace programme. The plan involved sending nearly 211,000 tons of US agricultural commodities to people in need in the Democratic Republic of Congo, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Haiti, Kenya and Rwanda.

The United States has historically been WFP’s largest donor, and an American has led the agency since the early 1990s. The US State Department welcomed Lindberg’s appointment and said Washington expects him to focus on the organisation’s core mandate, operational performance and relations with donors.

A native of South Dakota, Lindberg founded and led South Dakota Trade, a public private partnership focused on expanding international markets for the state’s exporters. He served as its president and CEO from November 2022 until August 2025 before joining the USDA. He also served as chief of staff and chief strategy officer at the US Export Import Bank during Trump’s first administration.

Lindberg is also the son-in-law of Senate Majority Leader John Thune. His appointment makes him the youngest person to lead WFP, according to Devex, which reported that he was selected for a five year term.