By Colin Kavanaugh

Contributing Writer

The Ridge Policy Group, a state and federal government affairs firm started by former Gov. Tom Ridge, is adding three staffers to its Washington, D.C., and Harrisburg offices, according to a press release provided by the group.

Laura Jan Kuller, the former Chief of Staff to Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Todd Eachus, is joining the Harrisburg office as a Government Affairs Counsel. Kuller has extensive experience on issues like gaming, health care, environmental and education policy, and worked directly with the Senate and Governors offices on legislative and administrative issues. She worked under Eachus to push Gov. Ed Rendells health care agenda through the House. Eachus was defeated in the 2010 election.

“There are few state government affairs professionals who have the kind of high-level strategic and legislative parliamentary expertise that Laura has from working for the Pennsylvania General Assembly. Laura also brings a unique combination of political and policy skills and experiences with her including a strong Democratic political background to lend some balance to the current makeup of our Group,” said Mark Campbell, Partner at Ridge Policy Group.

Kuller graduated from American University’s Washington College of Law in 1992 and received her undergraduate degree from Hamilton College in 1985. She attended Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government in 1997.

Additionally, Becky Wolfkiel will join the firm as a Senior Government Affairs Specialist after serving as Legislative Director for U.S. Rep. Todd Platts (R-PA). She will work in the Washington, D.C., office. Wolfkiel graduated from Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA.

Finally, Kristen Ortiz has been hired as a Government Affairs Specialist for the Groups Harrisburg office, after working as a legislative and policy staffer for PAR, Pennsylvanians Service Network for Autism and Intellectual Disabilities. Ortiz also served as a legislative assistant for Rep. Platts’s office and is a graduate of Lebanon Valley College in Annville, PA.

Campbell praised Wolfkiel and Ortiz for their bipartisan work at both the state and federal levels, and the latter’s grassroots advocacy experience.