Obama taps Walmart Foundation chief to lead budget office

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President Barack Obama will nominate on Monday Sylvia Matthews Burwell, current chair of the Walmart Foundation, to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), a senior official told CNN on Sunday evening.

The Walmart Foundation is the mega-retailer’s charitable arm. Prior to her work for Walmart, Burwell served as President of the Global Development Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where she focused on grants for developing nations, with a special focus on agricultural development and water sanitation.

Burwell, a member of the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations, also worked for the Clinton administration in several capacities, including deputy chief of staff, chief of staff at the Treasury and finally deputy chief of staff at the Office of Management and Budget.

If confirmed by the Senate, Burwell will replace Deputy Director for Management Jeffrey Zients, who’s served as acting OMB chief since 2009 after a decades-long career in business that started with a job at Bain & Company, the private equity firm founded by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R).