Department of State
Mills has served as the Counselor and Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton since January 2009. In her capacity as Counselor, she is a principal officer who serves the Secretary as a special advisor on major foreign policy challenges. As Chief of Staff, Mills manages the Department's staff, providing support to the Secretary in administering operations of the Department. As former White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart said, “I think Secretary Clinton wants to know you’re a team player, but she wants to hear it straight and she gets exactly that from Cheryl.”
Mills currently is leading the Department’s interagency global hunger and food security initiative (Feed the Future) and diplomacy and development efforts in Haiti working closely with USAID and others across the government. She serves as the United States' representative on the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC). In January 2011, Mills joined Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive, the Inter-American Development Bank, Sae-A and the IHRC to announce the construction of an industrial park in Northern Haiti. Its first tenant will create 20,000 jobs alone. Mills has said, "I feel a special connection to Haiti and the Haitian people. The power of Haitian heritage and the strength of the Haitian people is tremendous. And, Haiti holds a unique and rich role in the history of African Americans." Shortly after taking office Secretary Clinton asked Mills to lead an interagency consultation of current agriculture and food security efforts. The subsequent strategy became (Feed the Future). The Obama administration pledged $3.5 billion over three years to boost agricultural productivity. Describing the importance of food security Mills said, "We are always worried whenever people cant feed themselves. And particularly worried when that actually might translate to destabilization of a country. It is one of the reasons why this program is such an important one."
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