As president of the Global Development Program, Sylvia Mathews Burwell leads four areas of grantmaking: Global Libraries, Financial Services for the Poor, Agricultural Development, and Special Initiatives. Burwell also oversees advocacy activities for the Global Development Program. Burwell is part of the executive management team. She joined the foundation in 2001 as executive vice president and served as chief operating officer and executive director from 2002 to April 2006.

Before joining the foundation, Burwell served in the Clinton administration as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, assistant to the president, deputy chief of staff to the president, and chief of staff to secretary of the treasury, Robert E. Rubin. Before joining the federal government, Burwell worked for McKinsey and Company, a management consulting firm, where she focused on consulting for financial institutions. Burwell is a graduate of Harvard University and is a Rhodes Scholar. She serves on the Board of Directors for MetLife Inc. and the Governing Council of the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. She hails from Hinton, West Virginia.