'The Bold and the Beautiful' Producer Colleen Bell Confirmed by Senate as Ambassador to Hungary

The Bold and the Beautiful producer Colleen
Bell is nominated for Ambassador to Hungary.
Photo by Sean Smith, Courtesy of Colleen Bell.

The Bold and the Beautiful producer Colleen Bell was confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday as Ambassador to Hungary by a vote of 52-42. The votes were along party lines.

Her confirmation had been delayed after Republicans, led by Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona), raised objections over their qualifications. McCain even wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal claiming that the sole criteria for the selection of Bell and others was their ability to raise money for President Obama’s re-election campaign. He singled out Ms. Bell for struggling to "define even one strategic interest in the U.S. relationship with Hungary."

On the Senate floor on Tuesday, McCain again blasted the political appointments, but Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) defended them.

"Just because someone is a producer of a popular television show, that doesn't disqualify them," Boxer said, according to Yahoo News. "She’s an intelligent woman. She knows how to be successful."

Colleen Bradley Bell is a Producer for Bell-Phillip Television Productions, Inc., a position she has held since 2012. Prior to this position, Ms. Bell was the Director of Special Projects and an Associate Producer and Script Supervisor at Bell-Phillip Television. She served as General Trustee for the Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts from 2012 to 2013. Ms. Bell served as a Member of the Advisory Committee on the Arts for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts from 2010 to 2012, and was designated Chairman of the Committee in 2011. Ms. Bell currently serves as the Vice-Chairman of the Children’s Institute, and a Trustee on the Boards of Directors of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Los Angeles Music Center. She is a founding member of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Leadership Council and also serves on the advisory board of the UCLA Rape Treatment Center. Ms. Bell received a B.A. from Sweet Briar College.

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