Sylvia Mathews Burwell

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Sylvia Mathews Burwell
Sylvia Mathews Burwell official portrait.jpg
22nd United States Secretary of Health and Human Services
In office
June 9, 2014 – January 20, 2017
President Barack Obama
Deputy Bill Corr
Preceded by Kathleen Sebelius
Succeeded by Tom Price
Director of the Office of Management and Budget
In office
April 24, 2013 – June 9, 2014
President Barack Obama
Deputy Brian Deese
Preceded by Jeffrey Zients (Acting)
Succeeded by Brian Deese (Acting)
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy
In office
January 1997 – May 1998
President Bill Clinton
Preceded by Harold Ickes
Succeeded by Maria Echaveste
Personal details
Born Sylvia Mary Mathews
(1965-06-23) June 23, 1965 (age 58)
Hinton, West Virginia, U.S.
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Stephen Burwell
Alma mater Harvard University
Worcester College, Oxford

Sylvia Mary Mathews Burwell (born June 23, 1965) is an American executive who was the 22nd United States Secretary of Health and Human Services from April 2014 until the end of the Obama Administration in January 2017. Previously she was the Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget from 2013 to 2014.

She was president of the Walmart Foundation beginning in January 2012,[1] and she was previously the president of the Global Development Program of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. While at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, her program focused on combating world poverty through agricultural development, financial services for the poor, and global libraries. She was Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director of the Foundation before its reorganization in 2006. She came to the Foundation in 2001, after serving as Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget in Washington, D.C., since 1998.

She was nominated by President Barack Obama on April 11, 2014, to be the next Secretary of Health and Human Services after the resignation of Kathleen Sebelius. Burwell's nomination was confirmed by the Senate on June 5, 2014 by a vote of 78-17.[2][3]

Early life

Mathews was born and raised in Hinton, West Virginia. She is the daughter of Cleo (née Maroudas) Mathews, a former Hinton mayor, and Dr. William Peter Mathews, a retired optometrist.[4] Her maternal grandparents, Vasiliki (Mpakares) and Dennis N. Maroudas, were Greek immigrants, as were her paternal grandparents.[5][6][7]

Education and early career

In 1982, she was a Youth For Understanding exchange student in Japan. While still in college, she served as an intern for West Virginia Congressman Nick Rahall, as governor's aide to Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, and worked on the Dukakis/Bentsen campaign. She later worked on the Clinton/Gore campaign.

She was an Associate at McKinsey & Company from 1990 through 1992. She also served as Staff Director for the National Economic Council from 1993 to 1995. She was Chief of Staff to Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin from 1995 to 1997. Mathews served as Deputy Chief of Staff to President Bill Clinton from 1997 to 1998, along with future Center for American Progress founder John Podesta. In 1998, Bowles left and Podesta was elevated to chief of staff, and Burwell moved to the OMB to serve as Jack Lew's deputy director from 1998 to 2001.

She is a Member of the University of Washington Medicine Board, the Pacific Council on International Policy, the Aspen Strategy Group and the Nike Foundation Advisory Group.

Mathews received a bachelor’s degree in government, cum laude, from Harvard University in 1987 and a bachelor's degree in philosophy, politics and economics from Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. She was a Director of MetLife and Metropolitan Life Insurance Company from January 2004 to April 2013.[8] She often returns to West Virginia and to West Virginia University to speak, and a scholarship was established in her honor to support aspiring WVU political science students.

Career

In 2005 Mathews was chosen by the Wall Street Journal as one of The 50 Women to Watch -- 2005 worldwide.[6] She was mentioned as a possible candidate to replace Patty Stonesifer, who had announced plans to step down as CEO of the Gates Foundation in 2008.[9] However, on May 12, 2008, the foundation announced that Microsoft executive Jeff Raikes would assume the CEO position. Reportedly, Mathews and the foundation's other presidents approved of Raikes' appointment.[10] Mathews was named Obama/Biden Transition Agency Review Lead for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.[11] She married attorney Stephen Burwell in February 2007.[12] They have two children.[13]

Office of Management and Budget Director

On March 3, 2013, President Obama nominated Burwell to head the White House Office of Management and Budget.[14] A confirmation hearing was held on April 10,[15] and on April 24 the U.S. Senate confirmed Burwell to be the head of the OMB in a 96-0 vote.[16]

In October 2013, during the United States federal government shutdown of 2013, Burwell sent the email initiating the process that closed national parks, visitors’ centers and even the “panda-cam” at the National Zoo. "Agencies should now execute plans for an orderly shutdown due to the absence of appropriations," Burwell wrote in a memo to heads of executive departments and agencies.[17] She ordered the action because there was no "clear indication" that Congress would strike an agreement on a continuing resolution before the end of the day Tuesday. "We urge Congress to act quickly to pass a Continuing Resolution to provide a short-term bridge that ensures sufficient time to pass a budget for the remainder of the fiscal year, and to restore the operation of critical public services and programs that will be impacted by a lapse in appropriations," Burwell said in a statement.[18]

Health and Human Services Secretary

On April 11, 2014, Obama nominated Burwell to be the next secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, succeeding Kathleen Sebelius, who announced her resignation the day before. Her tenure as HHS secretary coincided with the second open-enrollment period for healthcare insurance, in October 2014. This expanded Medicaid and opened the Health Insurance Marketplace. Burwell was confirmed as Department of HHS secretary on June 5, 2014.[19] She was sworn into office on June 9, 2014.[20] On October 9, 2014 the Secretary faced reporters with questions about the federal government response to the Ebola virus disease and the upcoming Annual enrollment period for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which begins on November 15. The HealthCare.gov website had completed various testing actions with regard to load, end-to-end, Alpha, and other aspects. The Secretary noted the website had reduced the application process complexity by reducing the number of screens from over seventy to just over a dozen website pages.[21]

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Budget Chief Is Choice as New Health Secretary
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Nomination of Honorable Sylvia Mathews Burwell, of West Virginia, to be Director of the Office of Management and Budget: Hearing before the Committee on the Budget, United States Senate, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, First Session, April 10, 2013
  16. ↑ U.S. Senate Periodical Press Gallery. Senate.gov. Retrieved on August 17, 2013.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Kaiser Health News and Health Affairs. Secretary Burwell on Health Care Policy. C-Span. (October 9, 2014). retrieved 9 October 2014. http://www.c-span.org/video/?322005-1/hhs-secretary-sylvia-burwell-health-care-policy

External links

Political offices
Preceded by Director of the Office of Management and Budget
2013–2014		 Succeeded by
Brian Deese
Acting
Preceded by United States Secretary of Health and Human Services
2014–2017		 Succeeded by
Tom Price
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