In 1998, Thomas F. “Mack” McLarty, III and Nelson W. Cunningham left the Clinton White House to found a new type of professional services firm that would bring diplomatic and policy expertise to aid corporate decision-making and solve clients’ problems in global markets.

McLarty and Cunningham helped define the field of private sector diplomacy, drawing from McLarty’s extensive business experience as CEO of a Fortune 500 natural gas company, in a multi-generation family transportation company and as an investor in Latin America and Asia, and their experience serving in the Clinton White House. 

Since then, co-founders McLarty and Cunningham, with Vice Chairman John D. Negroponte and Managing Partners Stephen C. Donehoo, Kellie Meiman Hock, and Richard Burt have grown McLarty Associates from a three-person firm specializing in Latin America to a global firm. Today, McLarty Associates is led by Lee A. Feinstein, with nearly 100 professionals, offices in five countries, and people in over twenty countries around the world.

Our firm leaders built and expanded the firm over the past two decades — and continue to be actively involved in client service on a daily basis.

In 2022, McLarty Associates joined Ankura Consulting, an independent global expert services and advisory firm. The Ankura-McLarty combination delivers comprehensive solutions to handle disputes, navigate distress, manage risk, address financial and operational challenges, and execute programs that resolve policy, regulatory, government, and diplomatic issues that companies face anywhere in the world.