Ann Wagner

infobox US Ambassador
name = Ann Louise Wagner

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imagesize = 200px
ambassador_from=United States
country = Luxembourg
order =
term_start = August 1, 2005
predecessor = Peter Terpeluk, Jr.
president = George W. Bush
birth_date = 1962
birth_place = St. Louis, Missouri
party = Republican
spouse = Raymond Wagner, Jr.

Ann Wagner is the United States Ambassador to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. She was also Chair of the Missouri Republican Party for six years, from 1999 until 2005, and Co-chair of the Republican National Committee for four years.

Wagner was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, attended the all-girls' Cor Jesu Academy, and graduated from the University of Missouri–Columbia in 1984 with a bachelor's degree in business administration. She is married to Ray Wagner, a former Missouri director of revenue, and has three children: Raymond III, Stephen and Mary Ruth.

Wagner entered Republican politics in 1990 and immediately set to work, heading the GOP's efforts during the decennial redistricting of Missouri. In 1992 she was state director of the campaign for the re-election of President George H.W. Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle.

She was elected to her first term of office as Chair of the Missouri party in 1999, becoming the first woman to occupy the position. Her most significant achievement in that role came during her second two-year term when she oversaw the party's taking of majority control of both chambers of the Missouri General Assembly, winning the Senate in the 2001 special election and the House in the 2002 general election, the first time this had been seen for over 40 years. During her third term, the party held its majorities in both chambers and also took the Governor's seat for the first time in 12 years with the election of Matt Blunt on 2 November 2004. This was a three-win combination which had not been seen in the state since 1922. In the elections of 2 November the party also secured the majority of Missouri's Congressional representation and that state's Presidential electors.

In 2001 she took up office as a co-chair of the Republican National Committee, and took part in presiding over the 2004 Republican National Convention. In this role she showed a great interest in the potential of grassroots campaigning, and took a strong role in directing the development of the Winning Women initiative, whose aim was to improve the image of the GOP towards women and demonstrate the relevance of its platform to them. Her work with the Committee took her to 48 states. On the first day of the 2004 Convention, she gave a speech during which she told the story of Rita Arnaout, a 19-year-old cancer sufferer and road traffic accident survivor who, on being warned of the danger of over-exertion in her condition, told her doctor that the re-election of President George W. Bush was of greater importance to her and so required her efforts in the Bush/Cheney campaign. Wagner added that Republican activists had much to learn from this story. In January 2005, she left her role as co-chair after one term.

On 20 February 2005, Wagner was elected to a fourth term as Chair of the state GOP. However, her tenure was not to last long as on 16 May she was nominated by President Bush to the position of US Ambassador to Luxembourg. She had no previous diplomatic experience. On 16 July she was confirmed in post by a voice vote in the United States Senate, after which Senator Jim Talent (R-Mo) said that she was "a considerate woman, whose character and abilities uniquely qualify her to represent our nation."

She resigned as state chair on 16 July and was replaced by Doug Russell by acclamation of the state committee. On 1 August she was sworn in as Ambassador by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in the Benjamin Franklin Room of the Harry S. Truman Building of the US Department of State in Washington D.C..

Wagner has also been involved with a number of charities in her hometown of St. Louis, including the Foster Care Coalition, the American Red Cross and several others.

External links

* [http://luxembourg.usembassy.gov/ US Embassy in Luxembourg]
* [http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/63333.htm United States Department of State: Biography of Ann Wagner]