Robert Van Heuvelen launched Van Heuvelen Strategies, LLC in 2007. Drawing on his career experience both on Capitol Hill and in the executive branch, he advises clients on a wide variety of legislative and political issues, including energy and environment, taxation and finance, and health care.

Van Heuvelen served as Chief of Staff to Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) from 1997 to 2007. He managed Senator Conrad’s policy and political offices, working daily with members of Congress and their staff on both sides of the aisle. He also advised Senator Conrad in his capacities as Chairman and ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, ranking member of the powerful Finance Committee, and senior members of the Agriculture and Indian Affairs Committee. Having earned a reputation for collegial bipartisanship, Van Heuvelen helped form the Bipartisan U.S. Senate Chiefs of Staff organization, a group dedicated to combating political polarization with pragmatic deal-making.

Before his work in the Senate, Van Heuvelen was the Director of Civil Enforcement at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 1991 to 1997, earning the EPA Gold Medal for his work restructuring the agency’s Enforcement Program. Prior to his work at EPA, Van Heuvelen was the Justice Department’s Deputy Chief and Acting Chief of the Environmental Enforcement section, which was then the largest litigating section at DOJ. In recognition of his decade of service there, he received the John Marshall Award, the highest award given to career prosecutors.

Van Heuvelen began his career in Washington in 1975 as a legislative assistant to Senator Quentin Burdick (D-ND). In 1978, he was named Assistant Counsel to the Senate Environment Committee, where he helped to craft amendments to the major federal environmental laws.

A native of Bismarck, North Dakota, Van Heuvelen was Valedictorian of his class at Bismarck High School. He graduated with Honors from Macalester College, St. Paul, Minnesota; obtained a Masters Degree in Public Policy from the Humphrey School at the University of Minnesota; and was awarded his law degree from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar Association.

Stephen Ward is Principal at VH Strategies, LLC. Stephen most recently served as Senator Jeff Bingaman’s (D-NM) Chief of Staff in his Washington, DC office.

Senator Bingaman chairs the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the Finance Subcommittee on Energy, and is a member of the Finance Committee, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and the Joint Economic Committee. Stephen managed a staff of 40, split between Washington, DC and five offices across New Mexico. His responsibilities included management, political guidance, and working with the State of New Mexico’s leading constituent groups and stakeholders in the Senator’s major areas of issue involvement. He was integral to the coordination between Senator Bingaman’s personal office and his Energy Committee staff, and worked closely with major constituencies with issues before the Committee. In addition to his work with the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, he worked with key stakeholders in the health care community during the debate over the passage of the Affordable Care Act, supporting Senator Bingaman’s work as a member of the Senate Finance and Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committees.

Throughout Stephen’s years in the Senate, he worked closely with the White House and administrative agencies and departments including the Department of Energy, the Department of Interior, and the Department of Health and Human Services, among others. He chaired the Senate Democratic chiefs of staff organization, organizing and facilitating weekly meetings of all Democratic chiefs and serving as an informal ombudsman for the group within the Democratic leadership. He also served as Board Member of the bipartisan Senate chiefs of staff organization, a group dedicated to building strong working relationships between leaders in senior positions from both political parties.

Prior to joining Senator Bingaman in late 2003, Stephen served as Director of Government Affairs for EDS Corporation, an IT services company based in Plano, Texas. Over the ten years he was posted in EDS’s Washington office, Stephen was responsible for EDS’s relationships with Congress and the Administration on a range of issues and programs, including support of EDS’s business with most U.S. federal government agencies. During his tenure, he also chaired a coalition of U.S. companies focused on the issue of trade in government services, and served as the group’s representative both with the U.S. and foreign governments.

Stephen spent the prior decade working in electoral politics, serving as a campaign manager in Congressional races, and campaign consultant on federal and state races, as the PAC Director at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and as a consultant on redistricting.

Before his entry into political work in 1983, Stephen worked in the social services and education fields, serving as a community organizer, teacher/service learning coordinator, research analyst with a national advisory council, and a social services agency administrator/grantsman, as well as founding and heading a statewide coalition of community-based services for children and youth.

He holds a B.A. in Community Development and a M.Ed. in Higher Education Administration from The Pennsylvania State University.

Stephen lives in Arlington, Virginia with his wife Laura and two daughters, Madeleine, age 20 and Lyla, age 12.

Diane Major serves as a Vice President at VH Strategies. As a leading Republican strategist in Washington, she provides bipartisan counsel on client matters before Congress and the administration. Her working relationships with House and Senate Leadership, committee chairmen, members of Congress and senior staff provide indispensable insight for the firm’s growing health care, energy and environment, and tax and finance clients.

Politically active and engaged, Diane helps clients articulate concerns based on sound policy and business ethics. Her successes range from building relationships with key members of Congress and corporate thought leaders to passing legislation critical to a company’s bottom line.

Diane specializes in health policy. This includes a deep understanding of Medicare payment matters important to key players across the spectrum of the health industry including hospital systems, nursing homes, home health, physicians, pharmacies, health plans and pharmaceuticals. When client matters creep into the congressional oversight process, Diane also provides keen insight into knowing how to minimize company exposure and navigate such reviews carefully.

Prior to joining the firm in September 2011, Diane oversaw a thriving health care practice at the Bockorny Group. In 2003, she joined Senator Jon Kyl’s (R-AZ) leadership team as health policy analyst for the Senate Republican Policy Committee (RPC). During this time, she was responsible for coordinating all health legislation considered on the Senate floor with the Bush administration and the GOP leadership team including passage of the Medicare Modernization Act (MMA) of 2004.

Before joining the RPC position, Diane served as Senior Associate Director, Federal Relations for the American Hospital Association (AHA). While at the AHA, she was intimately involved with developing strategy for two Medicare and Medicaid funding relief measures after the passage of the Balanced Budget Act. Prior to joining the AHA, Diane handled health policy issues for the late Senator and Congressman Craig Thomas (R-WY). She also was a professional staff member for the House Government Reform & Oversight Committee.

Diane holds B.S. degrees in Economics and Political Science as well as a Certificate in International Relations from the University of Utah. She currently resides in Virginia with her husband and three children.

Anissa Rogness joined VH Strategies in 2008. Drawing on her wide expertise from a career on Capitol Hill, she advises clients on a range of subjects and helps them find funding opportunities within federal government agencies.

On Capitol Hill, Rogness served as Director of Economic Development for U.S. Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) for six years. She supported Senator Conrad’s work on the Budget Committee, where he was Chairman and Ranking Member, as well as the Finance Committee and Agriculture and Indian Affairs Committee. Her responsibilities ranged across a variety of issues, including energy, transportation, small business development, homeland security, and finance. She also spearheaded political fundraising efforts and other campaign activities.

Much of Rogness’s work before the Senate was in the non-profit sector. She served as a Senior Campaign Director in fundraising and community development for the Greater Twin Cities United Way from 1996 to 2001. In this capacity, she worked to build public-private nonprofit partnerships to raise money and develop programming for health and human services. Before that, she gained corporate and private sector experience in management, sales and marketing.

Rogness grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She earned a Bachelor’s degree with a major in economics from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. She later went on to receive a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the University of Minnesota with a concentration in economic and community development.

Valerie West joined VH Strategies in January, 2010, bringing 20 years’ worth of Capitol Hill experience on energy, energy tax policy, and natural resources issues.

West worked for 11 years as Natural Resources Director for Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR), supporting the Senator’s work on the Finance Committee and the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. She shepherded such landmark initiatives as the renewable energy tax incentives, the 2005 Energy Policy Act, and the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act; she also managed other legislation and appropriations related to energy, climate change, water policy, the Endangered Species Act, and public lands management. She gained experience resolving high-profile and contentious problems, taking leadership roles in addressing both the 2000-2001 West Coast energy crisis and water management in the Columbia and Klamath River Basins.

Before her time in the Senate, West worked for the House Natural Resources Committee, handling issues related to the Department of Energy’s Power Marketing Administration. There she also represented the committee chairman on the Western Water Policy Review Commission, whose congressional mandate was to examine critical water issues facing arid western states.

West began her Capitol Hill career as an aide to several U.S. House members, a staffer on the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee (now the Natural Resources Committee), and the congressional liaison for the Bureau of Reclamation.

West was born and raised in the Washington area. She is a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, and speaks French.