Chief of Staff

A political veteran, nurse and policy maker, Sheila Burke has attracted much attention in Washington recently. As Chief of Staff to Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, Burke will be at his side as he fights the presidential election in November. 

Burke originally began to work on Capitol Hill as a health care policy strategist on Senator Dole’s staff after receiving a nursing degree from the University of San Francisco and working as program director of the National Student Nurses’ Association in New York. 

Sheila Burke left New York for Washington almost 20 years ago – “I thought it would be an interesting thing to do before moving home and resuming a career in nursing,” she has said. “But interesting things were occurring. The years passed.” She was named Dole’s Chief of Staff in 1986, and has also served on the Finance Committee staff. 

Burke, who is married to former Reagan administration White House aide David Chew, traces her family to County Galway. When they came to the U.S. they settled in Montana. Burke and her husband have three children.