There is no group of people more committed, obviously, to the challenge of food security than all of you who are here in this room today. So this an opportune, appropriate moment for me to make an announcement of my own about the person who will be leading our food security efforts here at the State Department going forward. She’s someone that I turned to 18 years ago when AIDS in Africa was an issue that very few people talked about – very few people dared to talk about. And no one had really constructed a policy. She was the person who led my efforts, who worked with me and Bill Frist on the first AIDS bill that passed the Senate. We went to Jesse Helms, actually got his support, managed to pass this bill at a different point of time of the United States Senate, unanimously in the United States Senate. And I’m proud that this bill ultimately became PEPFAR as we know it today.

When I first sat down with President Obama to talk about being Secretary of State, he told me then that food security was one of these looming, emerging issues that he really wanted to make a mark on, that he wanted to address. He felt compelled to for a lot of different reasons. And Nancy Stetson was the first person that I thought of to lead that effort at the State Department, so I want you all to welcome with me my new Special Representative for Global Food Security Dr. Nancy Stetson, who is right here in the front row. Thank you. (Applause.)