Mary Waters was sworn in as the assistant secretary for congressional relations. She succeeded Andrew Fish, who held that position from October 1999 until January 2001, and who is now of counsel with the Washington, DC law firm of FoxKiser, specializing in agricultural biotechnology.

     Before joining USDA, from 1986 until she was sworn in to this position in May 2001 Waters served as a senior director and legislative counsel for ConAgra Foods, based in Washington, DC. In this capacity she was active in the development of the 1990 and 1996 Farm Bills and built coalitions of agricultural producers and processors in the development of agricultural and trade policy. Within that period, from 1999-2000 she chaired the Washington Agriculture Roundtable, which provided a forum for public and private sector agricultural officials to confer on agricultural policy matters.

     Waters worked as a legislative assistant for [then] U.S. Rep. Larry Hopkins (R-Ky.) from 1982-86, where she concentrated on such issues as the No Net Cost Tobacco Act of 1983, and worked on agricultural policy for the 1985 Farm Bill. She served as the director of the Agriculture Task Force for the House Republican Research Committee from 1981-82, which was chaired by [then] U.S. Rep. Ed Madigan (R-Ill.), who later served as USDA secretary from 1991-93.

     A native of Champaign, Ill., Waters holds a B.A. degree in political science from the University of Illinois and a Juris Doctor degree from George Mason University School of Law in Fairfax, Va. She is admitted to the Bar of the District of Columbia.