WASHINGTON -- Californian Ann Veneman took the oath of office Thursday as deputy agriculture secretary, a step that makes her the highest-ranking woman ever at the Agriculture Department.
Veneman, 41, a high-ranking official at the department since 1987, succeeded Jack Parnell in the No. 2 post. The selection of Veneman was one of the first major appointments by Agriculture Secretary Edward Madigan in shaping his executive team.
As deputy secretary, Veneman will play a key role in supervising the work of the department, which has 113,000 employees. Its duties range from operating the 191-million-acre national forest system and running the farm program to feedingthe poor and overseeing the school lunch program.
Veneman joined the Foreign Agricultural Service in 1987 and in June 1989 was elevated to deputy undersecretary responsible for trade negotiations, trade policy and food aid.
'I have been impressed with Ann's exceptional knowledge of U.S. agriculture,' Madigan said in a statement. 'Her consummate skills as a negotiator and administrator of farm policy will be invaluable as we face the challenges ahead of us.'
Veneman is the first woman to serve as deputy secretary. Until now, the highest-ranking woman at the department was Kathleen Lawrence, who was an acting undersecretary, a post nearly equal to deputy secretary, in the mid-1980s.
President Bush nominated Veneman May 24. She faced no opposition on Capitol Hill and was confirmed by the Senate late Wednesday.
Selection of Vememan marked the continuation of a pattern in recent years of giving one of the two top slots in the department to a Californian while the other goes to a Midwesterner. Veneman is regarded as a protege of Richard Lyng, a prominent agribusinessman who served as agriculture secretary during President Reagan's second term.
A lawyer by training, Veneman grew up on a peach farm in Modesto, Calif. She was a partner in a politically active Modesto law firm before joining the Agriculture Department. Her father, John Veneman, was a deputy undersecretary in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare under President Nixon.
