Obama taps business exec to oversee troubled VA

http://www.adn.com/2014/06/29/3540225/obama-taps-business-exec-to-oversee.html?sp=/99/171/



FILE - This Sept. 22, 2011 file photo shows Robert McDonald, CEO and president of Procter & Gamble, speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York. President Barack Obama is selecting the former Procter and Gamble executive as his choice to be secretary of Veterans Affairs, an administration official said Sunday, June 29, 2014. McDonald, 61, is a native of Gary, Ind., who grew up in Chicago.

Obama taps business exec to oversee troubled VA
By JULIE PACE
AP White House Correspondent
June 29, 2014 Updated 8 minutes ago

WASHINGTON — Seeking to turn around a troubled agency, President Barack Obama will nominate former Procter & Gamble executive Robert McDonald to lead a Veterans Affairs department gripped by reports of treatment delays and cover-ups.

An administration official said Obama planned to nominate McDonald to the Cabinet post on Monday. If confirmed by the Senate, the 61-year-old McDonald would succeed Eric Shinseki, the retired four-star general who resigned last month as the scope of the issues at veterans' hospitals became apparent.

McDonald's nomination signals that the president put a premium on management experience as he sought a new VA secretary. McDonald also has a military background, graduating near the top of his class at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and serving as a captain in the Army, primarily in the 82nd Airborne Division.

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McDonald resigned abruptly from Procter & Gamble in May 2013 amid pressure from investors concerned that he was not doing enough to boost the company's performance.