Bob McDonald, the former CEO of the fortune 500 company Proctor & Gamble, has a long resume. A West Point graduate with five years of Army experience and 33 years of corporate business experience, McDonald led over 120,000 employees stationed around the world for four years as P&G's CEO and is an active member of the West Point Alumni Association, According to The Associated Press.
By many accounts, McDonald is a highly capable candidate to head the Department of Veterans Affairs. President Barack Obama nominated McDonald after the resignation of former VA Secretary Erik Shinseki. Now, many in the medical and veterans community are questioning Obama's choice in nominating a business leader instead of a doctor or high-ranking military official, but the choice is not worrying many political leaders.
Faith in new leadership
"Bob McDonald is a good man, a veteran, and a strong leader with decades of experience in the private sector, House Speaker John Boehner said, according to CNN. "With those traits, he's the kind of person who is capable of implementing the kind of dramatic systemic change that is badly needed and long overdue at the VA."
Nonetheless, if Congress chooses to accept McDonald as the next Secretary of Veterans Affairs, he will be inheriting a system fraught with corrupt personnel and numerous internal problems. After guiding 120,000 employees with P&G, McDonald will be asked to oversee 340,000 employees in the VA, which carry out services for home loans, health care, education benefits and a flurry of other responsibilities.
A hopeful outlook
Looking ahead, McDonald told VA employees and veterans advocates at the VA headquarters that he aims to build "a VA that is more effective, more efficient, and that truly puts our veterans first," according to AP.
The candidate for head of the VA went on to say, "At the VA, the veteran is our customer, and we must all focus — all day, every day — on getting them the benefits and the care that they've so earned. That's the only reason we're here."
Finding inspiration through his years as a West Point graduate, McDonald also encouraged focusing on operation fundamentals and concentrating on choosing the "harder right rather than the easier wrong" at a leadership event at a college university this past fall.
The road ahead
Just a few weeks before their August break, the Senate has little time to confirm McDonald as the new head of the VA. If his role is not finalized before the break, he may have to wait until December to assume the new role. Sen. Bernie Sanders, chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, told CNN that he is already looking forward to meeting with McDonald to discuss VA issues. In the same vein, Senate officials are also saying the process should be quick, as they have already issued McDonald standard background questionnaire materials.