Janet A. Nuzum
Associate Administrator for Policy
Foreign Agricultural Service
US Department of Agriculture

Janet Nuzum serves as the Associate Administrator for Policy of the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS). She joined USDA in September 2009 as a senior political appointee for the Obama Administration, and joined FAS in January 2010. She served her first year at FAS as the Associate Administrator and General Sales Manager, with responsibility for agriculture’s role in the President’s National Export Initiative, export programs, food aid, technical assistance and exchange programs, and various trade barrier issues.

As the new Associate Administrator for Policy (a recently created position at FAS), her principal focus will continue to include the National Export Initiative, but also span a wider range of trade policy issues ranging from multilateral, regional and bilateral trade negotiations, trade disputes, technical and SPS barriers to trade, trade facilitation and capacity building, among other issues. She also oversees the analytical and reporting capabilities of FAS which analyzes foreign agricultural markets and reports on opportunities for US agricultural products around the world.

Prior to joining USDA, much of Janet’s career focused on international trade policy for both agricultural and non-agricultural goods. She was a Clinton Administration appointee serving as Vice Chairman of the US International Trade Commission. She worked extensively on Capitol Hill, first on the staff of the House Ways and Means Committee’s Trade Subcommittee during a time in the 1980’s when international trade issues were becoming much more politically visible. She also served during that time as the Ways and Means Committee’s point person on Farm Bills and liaison with the Agriculture Committees.

Her agricultural expertise deepened when she worked on international and domestic policy issues for the International Dairy Foods Association. She later returned to the Hill to manage agricultural and natural resource issues, as well as international trade issues, for Congressman Cal Dooley, a Democrat representing California’s Central Valley.

In addition to a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center and bachelor’s degree in economics and government from Smith College, Janet also has a graduate certificate in landscape design and worked for several years as a landscape design consultant. She studied briefly as an undergraduate student in Kyoto, Japan and has traveled extensively.

She resides in Arlington, Virginia, with her husband.

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