Ann M. Veneman
Co-Chair, Prevention Initiative; Former Secretary of Agriculture
Ann M. Veneman co-chairs BPC’s Prevention Initiative and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Task Force. She served as the secretary of the Department of Agriculture (USDA) from 2001 to 2005. Most recently, Veneman served as the executive director of the United Nations Children’s Fund from 2005 to 2010.
From 1986 to 1993, she served in various positions in the USDA, and as secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture from 1995 to 1999.
Veneman is a member of the board of Alexion, a global biopharmaceutical company. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and The Trilateral Commission. She has participated annually at The World Economic Forum in Davos and the Clinton Global Initiative Forum. Veneman is also co-chair of Mothers Day Every Day and on the boards of the Close Up Foundation and Malaria No More. In 2009, she was named to the Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women list.
Veneman has practiced law in both California and in Washington, D.C. Early in her career, she was a deputy public defender. Veneman holds degrees from the University of California, Davis, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. She has also been awarded honorary doctorate degrees from several universities and colleges.