The Senate has confirmed a former director and senior partner at the consulting firm McKinsey & Co., Beth Cobert, as the new deputy for management at OMB, one of the agency’s top three positions.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee considered the nomination during the recent government shutdown, which hung over the proceedings. Committee chair Tom Carper, D-Del., lamented an "era of stop-gap, crisis governing, with agencies struggling to do the best work they can despite constant uncertainty about their budgets," and said he wanted to help push the confirmation through to get a deputy direction for management on the job to drive long-term management reforms.
Cobert stated that she would focus on the "four pillars the President emphasized in his second-term management agenda: effectiveness, efficiency, economy and people," as well as "utilize my knowledge of private and public sector best practices to help make even further progress."
The position also makes her the chief performance officer.
