Consul General Cunningham has spent much of his career working on European and security affairs, with broad experience in multilateral diplomacy. After early tours in Stockholm, Washington, Rome and the U.S. Mission to NATO, in 1988 incoming NATO Secretary General Manfred Woerner appointed him as Deputy Chief of Staff and in January 1989 as Chief of Staff. He advised the Secretary General on all NATO issues in the context of the unification of Germany and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union, and on the management of the 1,200 member international staff.

Just after Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, Consul General Cunningham became Deputy Political Counselor at the U.S. Mission to the UN. From 1993 to 1995, he served as Director of the State Department's Office of European Security and Political Affairs, with responsibility for many aspects of U.S. policy toward Europe. He served as Deputy Chief of the U.S. Embassy in Rome from 1996 to 1999.

Consul General Cunningham was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania and graduated magna cum laude from Syracuse University, with degrees in political science and psychology. He is married and has two children. He speaks Italian, French, and Spanish and has studied Mandarin. Consul General Cunningham is the recipient of the Department's Superior, Merit and Performance awards; the National Performance Review's Hammer Award for innovation in government management; and the President's Meritorious Service Award.