Mara Burr serves as vice president, regulatory and technical affairs at Consumer Brands Association, providing strategic and tactical regulatory policy leadership on issues impacting the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry and CBA’s strategic priorities, as well as proactively identify emerging regulatory policy issues, concerns, and opportunities that enhance the intersection of advancing the CPG industry’s agenda and meeting expectations of the American consumer.

Prior to joining Consumer Brands Association, Burr served as Director, Multilateral Relations in the Office of the Secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) where she led U.S. government engagement with the World Health Organization (WHO) and its six regional offices, the United Nations, the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Burr was twice elected Vice Chair of the Governing Council of IARC (2022-2023).

Burr also served as Food Safety Policy Manager, at U.S. Food and Drug Administration in the Office of the Center Director at the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition where she was responsible for implementing provisions of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and other regulatory, legal and policy goals of FDA. From 2004-2014, Burr served as Deputy Assistant United States Trade Representative at the Office of the United States Trade Representative in the Executive Office of the President of the United States. Before her government service Burr was in private practice in Washington, DC working on international trade, regulatory, customs and World Trade Organization legal and policy issues.

Over the course of her distinguished federal government career, Burr’s work earned recognition from her agencies and peers. In 2023, she received the HHS Secretary’s Distinguished Service Award for the work of Multilateral Relations in leading multilateral efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. She has also received awards from the United States Trade Representative, the Department of State, the Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, recognizing her strong and unwavering commitment to serving the American people.

Burr graduated from Georgetown University Law Center with an LL.M in international and comparative law, receiving the Dean’s Certificate for distinguished contributions to Georgetown Law, Mitchell-Hamline Law School with a Juris Doctorate, and the University of Saint Thomas(Saint Paul, Minnesota) with a BA. Burr is originally from Central Minnesota and now lives with her family in Alexandria, Virginia.