McKinley was born in Venezuela and grew up in Brazil, Mexico, Spain, and the United States. He earned his bachelor's degree from Southampton University in England and a master's and doctorate from Oxford University. He joined the Foreign Service in 1982 and has had assignments in Bolivia (1983-1985), three tours in Washington (1985-1990), and in the US Embassy London (1990-1994).

 

From 1994 and 2001, he was Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d’ Affaires at US embassies in Mozambique, Uganda, and Belgium. From 2001-2004, he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. He then served as Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d’ Affaires at the US Mission to the European Union in Brussels from 2004 to 2007.

 

McKinley is the author of Pre-Revolutionary Caracas: Politics, Economy, and Society 1777-1811(2002).

 

McKinley and his wife, Fatima Salces Arces, have three children. McKinley speaks Spanish, Portuguese and French.