U.S. President Barack Obama nominated a Greek-American, Sylvia Mathews Burwell, a veteran of the Clinton administration and Walmart’s current philanthropic director to lead his Office of Management and Budget. She will replace the acting director, Jeffrey Zients.
If confirmed by the Senate, this will be Burwell’s second stint at OMB, having served there as a deputy to its former director, Jack Lew, during Bill Clinton’s presidency in 1998. She brings a reputation as “bright as hell.”
Obama said Mathews Burwell was somebody who “understands that our goal, when we put together a budget, is not just to make the numbers add up, but to reignite the true engine of economic growth in this country that is a strong and growing middle class.”
Mathews Burwell grew up in Hinton, West Virginia to Greek-American immigrants. After graduating from Harvard, she went to Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar. She then spent two years at consulting firm McKinsey, picking up, by some accounts, a love of management jargon, before joining Clinton’s team in 1992.
She first came to the White House after working in Clinton’s 1992 election campaign and leading his economic transition team into the Oval Office. She also served as a Deputy Chief of Staff under Erskine Bowles and in Treasury during that administration.
Burwell currently leads the Walmart Foundation, the retailer’s charity division, and previously ran the global development wing of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She was a favorite to take the position, although her job at Walmart didn’t endear her to some liberals because of the company’s conservative reputation and its tough stance against unions and organized labor, traditional allies of the Democrats.
In addition to her professional experience, she would add a woman to the president’s cabinet; Obama was criticized after his re-election for the appointment of too many males to top positions, including Treasury Secretary Lew, John Kerry as Secretary of State, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, and Chief of Staff Denis McDonough.
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