Maria Cino is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the 2008 Republican National Convention. As CEO of the Committee on Arrangements (COA), the RNC body responsible for planning the convention, Cino is charged with organizing, managing and producing the Republican Party’s 39th quadrennial convention. Cino brings to the position more than 25 years of experience in senior level positions in the executive and legislative branches of government, as well as the private sector. She has a proven record of managing and leading field-based organizations, developing and adhering to complex budgets, setting short-term and long-term strategic goals, building coalitions and developing, motivating, and mentoring staffs.

Prior to her current role with the COA, Cino served as Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). Cino was nominated by President George W. Bush on April 6, 2005, and confirmed by the United States Senate a month later. Cino served at DOT from May 2005 through March 2007, with a portion of her time there spent as Acting Secretary of Transportation. As DOT’s Chief Operating Officer, her responsibilities included the day-to-day management of DOT’s $61.1 billion budget, 10 modal administrations and approximately 60,000 employees.

In his first term, President George W. Bush appointed Cino as Assistant Secretary and Director General of the United States Foreign Commercial Service. In this capacity, Cino oversaw and distributed an annual budget of $200 million and supervised 1,700 employees at 105 domestic offices and 162 international offices in 85 countries.

In addition to her government service, Cino’s political experience includes a number of senior level strategic positions. Those positions include Deputy Chairman of the Republican National Committee (2003-2004), Deputy Chairman for Political and Congressional Relations of the Republican National Committee (2000), and National Political Director for Bush for President Committee (1999-2000). Cino also served as the Executive Director of the National Republican Congressional Committee where she oversaw the historic victories of 1994 and 1996, which gave the U.S. House Republicans a majority for the first time in 40 years and retained the majority for the first consecutive time in 68 years.

A native of Buffalo, New York, Cino received her bachelor's degree from St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York. She now resides in Alexandria, Virginia and St. Paul, Minnesota.