Senate Confirms OMB Management Deputy
Cobert approved by voice vote amid chaos of shutdown.
The Senate last Wednesday on the final day of the government shutdown approved President Obama’s nominee to be deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget.
Beth Cobert, a senior partner at McKinsey & Co. based in San Francisco, was approved by voice vote after she drew bipartisan praise at her Oct. 2 confirmation hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. She promised to bring private-sector techniques for using data metrics and performance management to reduce government waste. “It is important to tap into the expertise of stakeholders, to listen to agencies and get people to own the solutions,” she said.
Cobert replaces Jeffrey Zients, who resigned in May but who has since returned to the Obama administration as director of the White House National Economic Council.