Chris Milligan is the Counselor to the Agency. A member of the Senior Foreign Service, he has a deep wealth of development experience, having led and contributed to high-priority initiatives throughout his USAID career.

Mr. Milligan previously served as the Acting Mission Director of USAID/Madagascar. From 2012-2016, as USAID’s first Mission Director to Burma in 24 years, he integrated assistance with diplomatic efforts to advance Burma’s historic reforms. Mr. Milligan directed institutional reforms that revamped State and USAID strategic processes and improved the effectiveness of foreign assistance while serving as the Senior Development Advisor for the first Quadrennial Diplomatic and Development Review (QDDR), and the Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator in USAID’s Bureau of Policy, Planning, and Learning. Mr. Milligan deployed to Haiti as the U.S. Response Coordinator overseeing $1 billion in U.S. relief efforts following the January 2010 earthquake. He has been posted to overseas missions in Indonesia, Zimbabwe, and Ecuador, and served as Deputy Mission Director in Iraq. Mr. Milligan also has served as the Regional Director for the Near East in the Office of the Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance (F) in the State Department, and as the Acting Administrator for USAID's Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs.

Mr. Milligan joined USAID as a Presidential Management Fellow in 1990. Mr. Milligan has a Bachelor’s degree from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service, a Master’s degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and is a distinguished graduate of the National War College.