WASHINGTON — U.S. Global Leadership Coalition President and CEO Liz Schrayer released the following statement on the Senate’s vote to confirm Gayle Smith as the next Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development:

I commend the Senate for confirming Gayle Smith to be the next Administrator of USAID. I look forward to working with her to continue the game-changing transformations at USAID that are critical to advancing America’s economic and security interests – and delivering results to American taxpayers.

Never before has the world seen so many humanitarian crises at one time. These challenges, coupled with the enormous opportunities to advance America’s interests throughout the world, require strong and effective leadership at USAID. The Senate’s bipartisan vote today not only secures that leadership, but will also strengthen our nation’s engagement overseas. This is critical as we respond to and assist our allies with the growing number of Syrian refugees.

Gayle has been integral in every aspect of the numerous bipartisan initiatives that are making a difference in the development world – from Feed the Future to Power Africa. She will hit the ground running with her career-long knowledge, experience, and passion to move today’s reform-oriented development agenda forward.

The U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (www.usglc.org) is a broad-based influential network of 400 businesses and NGOs; national security and foreign policy experts; and business, faith-based, academic, military, and community leaders in all 50 states who support strategic investments to elevate development and diplomacy alongside defense in order to build a better, safer world.

CONTACT: Sidney Traynham, 202-730-4136, [email protected]