Joined office of Wisconsin Congressman Al Baldus as staff assistant in 1975; named Baldus' chief of staff 1977; director of government affairs at Wisconsin Federation of Cooperatives 1981-1986; lobbyist for National Milk Producers Federation in Washington D.C. 1986-1990; executive director of National Rural Cooperative Development Task Force 1990-1996; executive director of National Cooperative Development Foundation 1996-2003; deputy secretary of Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection 2003-2007; named the first executive director of the Office of Energy Independence April 5.