Veneman, Ann Margaret, 1949-

Ann Margaret Veneman (born June 29, 1949) is an American lawyer and government official. She notably served as the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture from 2001 to 2005 during the first George W. Bush administration and the executive director of UNICEF from 2005 to 2010.

Born and raised in Modesto, California, she earned a B.A. degree from the University of California, Davis, an M.P.P. degree from the Richard & Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and a J.D. degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. Veneman began her legal career as a staff attorney with the General Counsel's office of the Bay Area Rapid Transit District in Oakland, California, in 1976. In 1978, she returned to Modesto, where she served as a Deputy Public Defender. In 1980, she joined the Modesto law firm of Damrell, Damrell and Nelson, where she was an associate and later a partner. Veneman joined the United States Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service in 1986, serving as Associate Administrator until 1989. During this time she worked on the Uruguay Round talks for the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). She subsequently served as Deputy Undersecretary of Agriculture for International Affairs and Commodity Programs from 1989 to 1991. From 1991 to 1993, she served as United States Department of Agriculture's Deputy Secretary, the first woman appointed as the Department's second-highest-ranking official. Veneman then worked at the Washington, D.C., law firm of Patton Boggs LLP, before moving to Sacramento to work with the law firm of Nossaman, Guthner, Knox & Elliott.

In 1995, Veneman re-entered government, when she was appointed Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, again being the first woman to hold the position. From 1999 to 2001, Veneman was an attorney with Nossaman LLP, where she focused her attention on food, agriculture, environment, technology, and trade related issues. On 20 January 2001 she was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate and sworn in as Secretary of Agriculture, a position she held until January 20, 2005. Her tenure included record farm income, record agricultural exports and the creation of stronger pest and disease protection systems for the country. She announced her resignation after the 2004 election.

In her tenure as Executive Director of UNICEF from 2005 to 2010, Veneman like her predecessors, continued to foster a culture of improvement working to strengthen the results-based focus of the organization to most effectively and sustainably achieve the rights of children, in line with the convention on the Rights of the Child. Veneman continued the work of her predecessors to highlight the inextricable link between the health of the mother and the health of the child, to bring more awareness to the plight of women and girls, and called for greater efforts to end female genital mutilation.

After her time with UNICEF, Veneman served as an adviser to Nestlé and took a seat on Nestlé's board of directors. She serves as a co-leader of the Nutrition and Physical Activity Initiative at the Bipartisan Policy Center and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.