Sylvia and Stephen Burwell

Sylvia Burwell is the former president of American University (AU) in Washington, D.C., where she successfully launched and completed the $500 million Change Can’t Wait campaign funding the University’s largest investment in student thriving; 8 new chairs, 4 centers and 160 scholarships. Under her leadership, AU became the first urban university in the United States to achieve carbon neutrality, and she doubled externally funded research resulting in the University being designated an R1 research university.

Sylvia previously held two Cabinet positions serving as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). As HHS Secretary, she managed a trillion-dollar department with 12 operating divisions – including NIH, FDA, and the Medicaid and Medicare programs. As Director of OMB, she worked with Congress to negotiate a two-year budget deal following the 2013 government shutdown. 

Prior to her service in the Obama administration, Sylvia held leadership positions at two of the largest foundations in the world – she served as Chief Operating Officer and president of the Global Development Program at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and as president of the Walmart Foundation.

Sylvia received an AB from Harvard University and a BA from Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. She is a Distinguished Lecturer in Residence at AU and serves on the boards of the Council on Foreign Relations, Kimberly Clark, and GuideWell. She was recently elected as Fellow of the Harvard Corporation. She also serves as an adviser to Future Secure AI.  

Sylvia is a native of Hinton, West Virginia.

In May, Stephen successfully guided Elsevier’s acquisition of Mytonomy, a healthcare software company he has served for the last eight years as Senior Corporate Counsel and is now an Elsevier employee.  Prior to Mytonomy, Stephen was a stay-at-home dad for 11 years.  When not working or with his family, Stephen can be found on a bike.

Sylvia and Stephen are unfortunately not joined at Wasatch this year by their two teenagers, Helene (18), will be pursuing a Bachelor in Fine Arts in Ballet and a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology at the University of Utah in the fall.  Matthew (16), is a rising 11th grader.  Matthew is working this summer as a counselor in training, is a sacrosanct at our church, and likes Spanish, gaming, basketball, and golf.  They are both sad to miss Wasatch!