Mr. Ruhlen has decades of experience on Capitol Hill working with corporate stakeholders, national associations, and House and Senate leadership to advance/progress legislation in issue areas, including but not limited to appropriations, energy, tax, financial services, and defense.
Before joining Baker Donelson, Mr. Ruhlen served as the chief of staff to the chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, deputy assistant to the vice president of the United States, senior vice president for a major international corporation, and chief of staff to four members of Congress.
As Chairwoman Kay Granger's chief of staff, Mr. Ruhlen worked closely with the Appropriations Committee and House Leadership on legislative and communications priorities and strategies affecting the appropriations process. He also managed her role as dean of the Texas Republican delegation, the largest delegation in the House Republican Conference.
Between his service as chief of staff and deputy assistant to the vice president, Mr. Ruhlen was a partner at Total Spectrum, where he advised senior executives on developing and implementing cogent and successful government affairs strategies to address legislative and regulatory obstacles. From 2015 to 2018, he served as principal at Ruhlen Strategies, LLC, where he provided government affairs consulting, strategy development, and advocacy services to clients. He played a key role in coordinating successful efforts to protect the partnership tax model of Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 and developed strategies to secure further critical modifications to the law.
Prior to his role as principal, Mr. Ruhlen served as the senior vice president and co-head of federal government relations at JP Morgan Chase & Co., where he managed the federal government relations program. While in this role, he designed and implemented legislative strategies involving corporate, legal, and business line leaders to achieve specific government relations goals. Mr. Ruhlen also developed and executed government relations strategies for several business lines, including retail, credit card, tax, and government business.