Kathleen Ann Merrigan was sworn in as the United States Deputy Secretary of Agriculture on April 8, 2009. She resigned from this position on March 14, 2013.Merrigan helped develop USDA's organic labeling rules while head of the Agricultural Marketing Service from 1999 to 2001. Between her USDA positions, she worked at Tufts University as Director of the Agriculture, Food and Environment Program. She has a PhD in environmental planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.