Emerson, Jo Ann, 1950-

Jo Ann Emerson (born September 16, 1950) is a retired American lobbyist and politician. A member of the Republican Party, she served as the U.S. Representative for Missouri's 8th congressional district from 1996 to 2013. On January 22, 2013, Emerson resigned her seat in Congress to become the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. She served in this role until August 2015.

Born Jo Ann Hermann in Bethesda, Maryland, she graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University before pursuing a career in public affairs as a lobbyist. In 1975 she married lobbyist and Missouri native Bill Emerson. In 1980 Bill Emerson defeated an incumbent Democrat from a district representing the sprawling agricultural and mining region in rural southeast Missouri to win a seat in the United States House of Representatives. Jo Ann Emerson worked as a deputy communications director for the National Republican Congressional Committee in the early 1980s.

Shortly before his death from lung cancer in June 1996, Bill Emerson asked Jo Ann to consider running for his seat, a request repeated by his staff and constituents. As Missouri state law prohibited her from filing in the Republican primary for the general election, Emerson ran as an Independent in the general election while running as a Republican in the special election, both held in November 1996. She served the last two months of her husband's term as a Republican, then as an independent caucusing with the Republicans before officially becoming a Republican again at the onset of the new Congress in 1997.

In her early House career, Emerson’s legislative interests remained local: improving Missouri’s highways and securing federal funds for a bridge over the Mississippi River named after her husband. She also supported mining and timber interests, more student loan grants, and agricultural research. Representing an agricultural district, Emerson focused on trade issues. She worked in bipartisan fashion with Democrats to prod U.S. officials to reopen trade with Cuba. Emerson was a member of the moderate Republican groups the Republican Main Street Partnership and the Tuesday Group, maintaining strong relationships with Members from both parties.

After winning re-election to a ninth term, Emerson announced she would resign to head the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), an advocacy organization that represents more than 900 electric cooperatives across the United States. Emerson formally resigned on January 22, 2013, saying her House service was the “greatest honor” of her professional career. Emerson retired from the NRECA in 2016.