Ann Margaret Veneman ( born June 29, 1949 ) is the former Executive Director of UNICEF, a position she held from 2005 to 2010.

Veneman is currently a board member of Malaria No More, a New York-based nonprofit that was launched at the 2006 White House Summit with the goal of ending all deaths caused by malaria.

Veneman is also co-chair of Mothers Day Every Day, along with former U. S. President Bill Clinton ’ s Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala.

Veneman is also a second cousin of Star Wars creator George Lucas.

In 2004 Veneman was honored with an Honorary Membership with the U. S. State Department ’ s U. S .- Afghan Women ’ s Council and an Honorary Membership with Sigma Alpha Sorority, the national professional agriculture sorority.

In 2002, Veneman received the California Council for International Trade Golden State Award, the Dutch American Heritage Award, Junior Statesman Foundation Statesman of the Year Award and the United Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Distinguished Service Award.

In 2001 Veneman received the Outstanding Woman in International Trade Award, the UC Davis Outstanding Alumna of the Year Award and the Food Research and Action Center Award.

In February 2009, marking the International Day against the harmful practice that three million girls and women endure each year, Veneman said, “ Some 70 million girls and women alive today have been subjected to female genital cutting.

As the 27th Secretary of the U. S. Department of Agriculture ( USDA ), Veneman managed a department of 111, 000 employees, the sixth-largest employer in the federal government, with personnel in more than 25, 000 buildings around the world ; a program level of $ 113 billion that would rank USDA sixth if it were a U. S. corporation ; a spending level that ranks fifth in the federal government ; a loan portfolio that would rank USDA seventh if it were a U. S. bank ; and one of the most diverse and challenging missions across all of government.

On December 23, 2003, Veneman announced the discovery of a single cow with Bovine spongiform encephalopathy ( BSE ), or mad cow disease, in Washington State.

As part of several actions to implement the President ’ s Management Agenda ( PMA ), Veneman began USDA ’ s e-Government Initiative, which made an unprecedented array of programs and services available electronically.

* 2004: Co-convener of Women Leaders for WASH ( Water Sanitation and Hygiene ), a high level Advocacy-network to focus on a key health and development-issue for women, together with Executive Director Ann M. Veneman of UNICEF and Minister Maria Mutagamba from Uganda

Veneman has received several awards and distinctions throughout her career.

In 2002, Veneman was diagnosed with breast cancer and received successful treatment.

U. S. Senator Tom Harkin said at Veneman ’ s confirmation hearing, " I was encouraged by the nomination of Ann Veneman to serve as Secretary of Agriculture.

This consistent policy vision, along with Secretary Veneman ’ s bipartisan approach and emphasis on the improved management of USDA, yielded many accomplishments.

USDA also confronted various food safety recalls, prompting Veneman to take several actions to strengthen USDA ’ s regulatory oversight and protections.

Veneman worked to foster the next generation of agricultural leadership, establishing USDA ’ s “ Leaders of Tomorrow ” initiative to strengthen education programs, particularly those involved with mentoring youth.

In 2007, Veneman helped launch a partnership with renowned US playwright and ‘ V-Day ’ founder Eve Ensler in 2007, to bring awareness and change to the sexual abuse and violence of women in the DRC.

In December 2009, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said of Veneman, “ She has fulfilled her mandate with immense dedication, and I have been impressed by her extraordinary energy and determination to improve children ’ s health, education and well-being around the world.

Borlaug with USDA Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman near the birthday cake prepared for his 90th birthday

To help lead USDA into the 21st century, in 2001 Veneman released a blueprint for agriculture, Food and Agricultural Policy: Taking Stock for the New Century.

Veneman, was widely praised for her knowledge and leadership in advancing international trade.

In 2004, Veneman finalized the transition from paper food stamps to electronic debit cards in an effort to reduce fraud and increase availability of these programs to more families in need. Under Veneman, after a comprehensive scientific review, new Dietary Guidelines for Americans were released, which formed the basis for USDA's MyPyramid.

Veneman has also called for greater efforts to end female genital mutilation.

On May 24, 2001, during the George W. Bush administration, Hawks was sworn in as the Undersecretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs by United States Secretary of Agriculture Ann M. Veneman.

Veneman served as USDA Secretary from January 20, 2001 to January 20, 2005, leaving to become the fifth executive director of UNICEF.

At this point Veneman took a break from political and administrative office to practice with the law firm and lobby group Patton, Boggs & Blow and also served on several boards of directors and advisory groups.

In her tenure as Executive Director from 2005 to 2010, Veneman has, 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.

Previously, Veneman was the United States Secretary of Agriculture, the first and only woman to hold that position.

Veneman joined the United States Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service in 1986, serving as Associate Administrator until 1989.

Forbes cited Veneman in part because she " played a key role in the joint effort by UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Population Fund and the World Bank to help accelerate progress on maternal and newborn health in the 25 countries with the highest rates of infant mortality worldwide.

Republican Governor Mike Johanns of Nebraska was nominated by Bush on December 2 to replace outgoing United States Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman.

Although there are seven other types of annual awards presented by the Academy ( the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, the Gordon E. Sawyer Award, the Scientific and Engineering Award, the Technical Achievement Award, the John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation, and the Student Academy Award ) plus two awards that are not presented annually ( the Special Achievement Award in the form of an Oscar statuette and the Honorary Award that may or may not be in the form of an Oscar statuette ), the best known one is the Academy Award of Merit more popularly known as the Oscar statuette.

* Powell is an Honorary Board Member of the humanitarian organization Wings of Hope

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church do acknowledge the Honorary Supremacy of the Coptic Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria, since the Church of Alexandria is technically their Mother Church.

de Klerk is an Honorary Patron of the University Philosophical Society and Honorary Chairman of the Prague Society for International Cooperation.

* 1996 – Honorary César Award The César is the main national film award in France.

Quayle is an Honorary Trustee Emeritus of the Hudson Institute and is president of Quayle and Associates.

As for the whale shark, Dr. E. W. Gudger, an Honorary Associate in Ichthyology at the American Museum of Natural History, noted that " while the mouth is cavernous, the throat itself is only four inches wide and has a sharp elbow or bend behind the opening.

She is Professor of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and is an Honorary Professor of English at the University of St Andrews.

Robinson has been Honorary President of Oxfam International since 2002 and of the European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation EIUC since 2005, she is Chair of the International Institute for Environment and Development ( IIED ) and is also a founding member and Chair of the Council of Women World Leaders.

Mr. Bernhard Cohen is currently its Honorary President and founder.

She is also the Honorary Spokesperson for the Dallas, Texas-based non-profit The Gordie Foundation.

The UN Secretary-General is the Honorary President of UPEACE.

Moon is a member of the Honorary Committee of the Unification Ministry of the Republic of Korea.

Wolpoff is a member of many anthropological organizations, and is an Honorary Life Member of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Lutheran pastor and theologian Martin Niemöller, founder of the Confessing Church resistance movement against the Nazis, is an Honorary Citizen of Wiesbaden.

* 2004 – Honorary doctorate awarded by the University of Leicester, where Jeffreys is a member of staff.

He is currently an Honorary Fellow in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Auckland in New Zealand.

Venturi is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, the American Institute of Architects, The American Academy of Arts and Letters and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects.