Ann Veneman

Ann M. Veneman has a distinguished career in public service, serving as the Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) from 2005 to 2010 and as the United States Secretary of Agriculture from 2001 to 2005.

The only woman to ever serve as Secretary of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Veneman directed one of the most diverse federal agencies with a budget of $113 billion and 110,000 employees. She also served as Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture from 1995 to 1999, overseeing the state agency responsible for the nation’s largest agricultural- producing region. From 1986 to 1993, she served in various positions in the USDA, including Deputy Secretary, Deputy Undersecretary for International Affairs, and Associate Administrator of the Foreign Agricultural Service.

Veneman now serves on the boards of directors for a number of leading corporate and nonprofit groups, including CHAI. She is a member of the Hilton Humanitarian Prize Jury and the Council on Foreign Relations. She also frequent speaks on a range of topics including poverty alleviation, empowering women and girls, food security and nutrition, and global health.

Throughout her career, Veneman has served on a number of advisory councils and committees and has also worked with the Bipartisan Policy Center on nutrition and political reform issues as well as with the Chicago Council on agricultural development. She also served as a fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health and the University of California Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy.

A lawyer by training, Veneman has practiced law in both California and in Washington DC. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California, Davis; a master’s degree in public policy from the University of California, Berkeley; and a juris doctor degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. She has been awarded honorary doctorate degrees from several universities and colleges.