Ed Schafer was sworn in as the 29th Secretary of USDA on Jan. 28. He served as North Dakota's governor from 1992 to 2000.

As governor, Schafer managed a state workforce of 12,000, oversaw a budget of $4.6 billion and led the state's response to emergencies, such as the floods that hit the Grand Forks area in 1997.

After leaving office in 2000, he co-founded Extend America, a venture capital-backed company, to provide wireless voice and high-speed data services to commercial and residential customers in five rural Midwestern states.