Ambassador Darci Vetter is a global public policy leader at the intersection of agriculture, sustainability, and international trade. She focuses on building resilient food systems across public, private, and non-profit sectors.
Darci served as Chief Agricultural Negotiator at the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), negotiating the agricultural package of a 12-nation Free Trade Agreement in the Asia-Pacific and completing agreements with Brazil and China.
As Deputy Undersecretary at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), she oversaw the Foreign Agricultural Service, expanding market access for U.S. agricultural products and directing capacity-building and food assistance programs.
She worked on the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance to secure trade agreements with Panama, Colombia, and South Korea, and as a director at USTR, she crafted various international agriculture and environmental agreements.
After federal service, Darci held executive roles in private and non-profit sectors, establishing the Yeutter Institute for International Trade and Finance as a Diplomat in Residence at the University of Nebraska and serving as Head of Global Public Policy at the Nature Conservancy, focusing on climate change and biodiversity loss.
Later, at PepsiCo as Senior Vice President for Global Public Policy, she developed policy positions on regenerative agriculture, health, nutrition, renewable energy, and waste reduction.
Darci now consults with organisations on navigating complex global policies, aligning incentives in the food and agriculture value chain to create resilient food systems.
She is on the National 4H Council Board of Trustees and the Mid-Atlantic selection panel for the Truman Scholarship Foundation. Darci holds a Master of Public Affairs from Princeton and an undergraduate degree from Drake University. She lives in Washington, DC with her spouse and two teenagers.