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.

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