Senate Health, Education, Labor, And Pensions Committee

Conservative but pragmatic, Soderstrom is seen as a strong player who knows when to cut the right deal. She came to the committee in February 2003, when Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., took over as chairman. She has worked for several conservatives in the Senate, including Trent Lott, R-Miss., and the retired Dan Coats, R-Ind. Soderstrom focused on education matters for Coats when he was a senior member of the committee. Most recently, she was deputy chief of staff and floor assistant to Lott before he resigned as majority leader at the end of 2002. Gregg is relying on Soderstrom's Senate experience, which includes managing operations on the floor, to help Republicans flourish on a committee that handles such high-profile and controversial issues as cloning and stem-cell research. Said one Republican aide of Soderstrom, "She's not afraid to look you in the eye and, with that New York style, tell you what's what." Nevertheless, the aide added, she's "graceful and elegant and respected by her colleagues and peers." Democratic aides acknowledge that Soderstrom has shown an ability to work with both parties. Soderstrom, who declined to give her age, hails from Stony Brook, N.Y. She graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in English.

DENZEL MCGUIRE, MAJORITY EDUCATION POLICY DIRECTOR

McGuire took her first job on the Hill after graduating from the University of Virginia with a degree in government. More than a decade later, she still gets excited about her work. In her current job, she oversees the committee's education team, focusing primarily on K-12 education issues. McGuire, 33, has worked for Gregg since 1999, first on the Children and Families Subcommittee, and then on the full committee after Gregg took the chairman's gavel in 2001. The Roanoke, Va., native got her start in the House, where she worked for her representative, Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. Before moving to the Senate, McGuire served on the staff of the House Education and the Workforce panel. School choice issues and the No Child Left Behind Act are McGuire's passions, policies she has worked on throughout her career. As a supervisor, McGuire sees herself as a delegator who likes to stay involved. She said she enjoys taking cues from Gregg, whom she describes as "a good idea-generator, but also comfortable getting in the weeds."

VINCENT VENTIMIGLIA, MAJORITY HEALTH POLICY DIRECTOR

Ventimiglia came to the committee and his current post in 2001, returning to Capitol Hill after a stint in the private sector, from 1998 to 2001, as director of government affairs for medical-technology company Medtronic. Before that, Ventimiglia had spent nearly his entire career in public service, most recently in various health policy roles, including counsel to the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee. Before coming to the Hill, Ventimiglia had been a staff attorney for the U.S. Sentencing Commission from 1990 to 1994 and had directed the Capitol Hill Housing Improvement Partnership from 1988 to 1990. In his current role as leader of the committee's health care policy team, Ventimiglia oversees about five staffers' work on the gamut of health issues before the committee. Ventimiglia also keeps tabs on Medicare and prescription drug issues, although those fall under the jurisdiction of the Finance Committee. "He has his finger in just about every health care issue," a colleague said. Described by those who know him as calm and collected in tense situations, the 41-year-old father of five grew up in Denver. He graduated magna cum laude from Yale University and holds a law degree from Georgetown University.

CHRISTINE IVERSON, MAJORITY COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR

Even Iverson's Democratic counterpart on the committee extols her effectiveness as a communicator. "She's a worthy adversary," said Jim Manley, the panel's Democratic spokesperson. "She's very aggressive, and very skilled at trying to advance her boss's agenda." Iverson, a 33-year-old native of Petersburg, N.D., came to the committee in February 2003 as its first full-time Republican communications director. (Until then, the top GOP senator's personal press secretary had done double duty.) Iverson quickly began trying to put Republicans on the radar screen: "There have been an enormous number of achievements from Republicans in the areas of education and health care," she said, "and my job is to promote those achievements and make people aware of what we're doing in those areas." Iverson came to Washington in 1997 to serve as communications director to then-freshman Rep. John Thune, R-S.D. In 1999, she became communications director for the House Republican Conference. She returned to Thune in 2002 to handle communications for his Senate campaign (he lost). Iverson graduated from Moorhead State University in Minnesota in 1992 with degrees in English and broadcast journalism.

MICHAEL MEYERS, MINORITY STAFF DIRECTOR, CHIEF COUNSEL

Meyers has been called the consummate behind-the-scenes operator, a mild-mannered but influential figure. "He tries and mostly succeeds in blending into the wallpaper, but don't believe for a minute that he doesn't know what's going on," one observer said. Typically deferential, Meyers, 48, when asked about his own role, would rather talk about his boss, ranking member Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. Kennedy's "view is to figure out how to get things done--to compromise enough to move bipartisan bills," Meyers said. "On some things, though, there are inviolable principles that dictate another course." Meyers has worn a variety of hats in Kennedy's office during his 14 years with the senator, and has served in his current position since 1997. Meyers worked for the Clinton Defense Department as director of policy for humanitarian and refugee affairs. In that job, he drew on his experience traveling and working on refugee-assistance missions in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Meyers holds bachelor's and master's degrees from Columbia University. He spent much of his childhood in Cleveland, Miss., and Vietnam, where his parents traveled to do religious work.

DAVID NEXON, MINORITY HEALTH POLICY DIRECTOR

Nexon, 58, has earned the moniker "Dean of Health Policy" on Capitol Hill for his knowledge of the intricacies of health policy and financing, and also for a mild, slightly professorial demeanor. Nexon "has forgotten more than most staffers and lawmakers will ever know" about health policy, one acquaintance said. He is, insiders say, the brains behind most Democratic health care policy proposals. And although Nexon commands bipartisan respect--he has held his current title for most of the past two decades--he is known to drive a hard bargain in negotiations with Republicans. He has served on the committee and its predecessor, the Labor and Human Resources panel, since 1983. The Chicago native has roots in academia, with previous jobs as a professor at Claremont College in California and as a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer at the University of Cincinnati. He has a bachelor's degree from Harvard College and master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Chicago. He said he left academia because he enjoys a more hands-on role. "It's better to do something than to write about it," he said.