U.S. Senate Predicted to Confirm Greek-American Burwell's HHS Secretary Post
Today, it is predicted that the U.S. Senate will confirm Greek-American Sylvia Mathew Burwell as the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary.
She currently holds the position of White House Budget Director. Yesterday's preliminary vote held 67 to 28, in favor of Burwell. A final Senate electoral vote will finalize her new position today.
In her new post, the Greek-American governmental delegate will manage eleven agencies that include the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and the massive public insurance programs, Medicaid and Medicare.
President Barack Obama nominated Burwell in April, and has the general support of the Republican party. As reported by The Washington Post, Georgia's Republican Senator Johnny Isakson stated of Burwell, "articulate, forthright, straightforward and candid — something we really haven't had from the secretary of HHS for the last year or so. . . . I like having somebody who has the intellect and the capability and the willingness to be communicating with the members of Congress, regardless of their party". (Source:http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/senate-poised-to-confirm-burwell-as-new-secretary-of-hhs/2014/06/05/bbd79400-ec06-11e3-9f5c-9075d5508f0a_story.html?hpid=z4)
The Rhodes Scholar is the daughter of former Hinton, West Virgina mayor Cleo (Maroudas) Mathews and retired optometrist Dr. William Peter Mathews. Burwell's paternal grandparents were Greek immigrants, as well as her maternal grandparents, Vasiliki Mpakeres and Dennis N. Maroudas.
Burwell received degrees from both Harvard and Oxford Universities. She worked for the Dukakis and Clinton presidential campaigns.
The successful Greek-American held a number of impressive posts in the Clinton Administration and worked in the private sector at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, before heading the Walmart Foundation. Prior to her work under President Clinton, she was employed at McKinsey & Company.
