Sylvia Mathews Burwell

Sylvia Mathews Burwell
15th President of American University
Incumbent
Assumed office June 1, 2017
Preceded by	Cornelius M. Kerwin
22nd United States Secretary of Health and Human Services
In office June 9, 2014 – January 20, 2017
President	Barack Obama
Deputy	Bill Corr Mary Wakefield (acting)
Preceded by	Kathleen Sebelius
Succeeded by	Tom Price
39th Director of the Office of Management and Budget
In office April 24, 2013 – June 9, 2014
President	Barack Obama
Deputy	Brian Deese
Preceded by	Jack Lew
Succeeded by	Shaun Donovan
Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget
In office October 21, 1998 – January 20, 2001
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Jack Lew
Succeeded by	Sean O'Keefe
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy
In office January 20, 1997 – October 21, 1998
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Harold M. 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	Stephen Burwell
Children	2
Education	Harvard University (BA) Worcester College, Oxford (BA)

Sylvia Mary Burwell (née Mathews; born June 23, 1965) is an American government and non-profit executive who has been the 15th president of American University since June 1, 2017. Burwell is the first woman to serve as the university's president. Burwell earlier served as the 22nd United States Secretary of Health and Human Services. President Barack Obama nominated Burwell on April 11, 2014. Burwell's nomination was confirmed by the Senate on June 5, 2014, by a vote of 78–17. She served as Secretary until the end of the Obama administration. Previously, she had been the Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget from 2013 to 2014.

A West Virginia native, Burwell first worked for the United States government in Washington, D.C., during the presidency of Bill Clinton. Burwell helped form the National Economic Council in 1993. Burwell later served as Chief of Staff to Secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin, Deputy White House Chief of Staff to Erskine Bowles, and finally, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Between her times in government, Burwell served as president of Walmart's charitable foundation focused on ending hunger, beginning in January 2012. Burwell was earlier the president of the Global Development Program of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where 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 before its reorganization in 2006. She joined the Gates Foundation in 2001, at the end of the Clinton presidency.