Sylvia Mathews Burwell

  Sylvia Mathews Burwell (born 1965) is the President of the Global Development Program of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Her program focuses 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 prior to 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., from 1998.

Additional recommended knowledge

Guide to balance cleaning: 8 simple steps

How to ensure accurate weighing results every day?

Daily Visual Balance Check

Biography

Born and raised in Hinton, West Virginia, into a Greek-American family[1] Mathews is the daughter of Dr. William Mathews, a retired optometrist and Hinton Mayor Cleo Mathews. She began her career while still in college, serving as an intern for West Virginia Congressman Nick Rahall, as governor's aide to Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, and working on the Dukakis/Bentsen and the Clinton/Gore campaigns. Ms. Mathews served as Deputy Chief of Staff to President Bill Clinton from 1997 to 1998, and was Chief of Staff to Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin from 1995 to 1997. She also served as Staff Director for the National Economic Council from 1993 to 1995. Prior to that, she was an Associate at McKinsey and Company from 1990 through 1992. 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.

In addition, Ms. Mathews is a Governing Council Member of the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. Ms. 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. Ms. Mathews has been a Director of MetLife and Metropolitan Life Insurance Company since January 2004. She often returns to the Mountain State and to WVU to speak, and recently a scholarship was established in her honor to support aspiring WVU political science students. In 2005 Mathews was chosen by the Wall Street Journal as one of The 50 Women to Watch -- 2005 world wide.[2]

She married attorney Stephen Burwell in February 2007. [3]