Colleen Kopp

Colleen M. Kopp
Education Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Occupation lobbyist
Known for Veon, Kopp & Associates
Political party Democrat

Colleen M. Kopp is a lobbyist and legislative staffer in Pennsylvania. Prior to that she was an aide for House Minority Whip Mike Veon and for Governor Ed Rendell. She is currently the Secretary of Legislative Affairs.[1]

She earned a degree in public policy from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania.[2]

She first rose to prominence as executive director for House Minority Whip Representative Mike Veon.[3] In March 2003, she was hired by the newly elected Governor Ed Rendell to serve as his Deputy Secretary of Legislative Affairs.[4]

The political website PoliticsPA called her "the Democrats version of the GOP's Mary Matalin.[3] She was named to the PoliticsPA list of "Pennsylvania's Most Politically Powerful Women," where her work for many Pennsylvania House of Representatives elections was noted.[3] She was named to the PoliticsPA list of "Rising Stars" in Pennsylvania.[5] She was also named to the PoliticsPA list f "Rising Stars" in Pennsylvania politics.[5]

In 2007, she partnered with Mike Veon, who had been defeated for re-election in 2006, to found the Veon, Kopp & Associates lobbying firm, with U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company as its first client.[6] The firm was dissolved in April 2008 and Kopp returned to lobbying under the name of Kopp & Associates LLC, where she represented Independence Blue Cross.[7] In March 2009, she returned to Governor Rendell's office, the third individuals hired in spite of Rendell's self-imposed hiring freeze.[8] The Governor dismissed questions about the appropriateness of hiring Kopp, who was mentioned but not accused of wrongdoing in the criminal proceedings of her former boss and business partnet Mike Veon.[8]

References

  1. ^ "Colleen Kopp - Secretary of Legislative Affairs". Governor's Cabinet Officials. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=2995&PageID=368319&mode=2&contentid=http://pubcontent.state.pa.us/publishedcontent/publish/cop_general_government_operations/governor_site/cabinet/officials/colleen_kopp.html. 
  2. ^ "COLLEEN M. KOPP, Principal". www.vka.cc. Veon, Kopp & Associates. http://www.vka.cc/about/Kopp.htm. 
  3. ^ a b c "Pennsylvania's Most Politically Powerful Women". PoliticsPA. The Publius Group. 2001. Archived from the original on 2004-02-09. http://web.archive.org/web/20040209095936/politicspa.com/features/mostpoliticallypowerfulwomen.htm. 
  4. ^ Neri, Al; Albert J. Neri (March 2003). "Raiding the Cupboard". The Insider. http://www.insiderpa.com/archive/insider3-2003b.htm. 
  5. ^ a b "PoliticsPA Rising Stars". PoliticsPA. The Publius Group. Archived from the original on 2002-12-05. http://web.archive.org/web/20021205042819/http://www.politicspa.com/FEATURES/rising_stars.htm. 
  6. ^ Barnes, Tom (September 17, 2007). "Veon spins election's short straw into lobbying gold". Pittsburgh Post Gazette. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07260/818265-85.stm. 
  7. ^ Erdley, Debra (April 17, 2008). "Former state Rep. Mike Veon's lobby firm closes". Pittsburgh Tribune Review. http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_562794.html. 
  8. ^ a b Bumsted, Brad; Debra Erdley (March 28, 2009). "Rendell's latest hire worked for Veon". Pittsburgh Tribune Review. http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/state/s_618212.html. 
Government offices
Preceded by
Steve Crawford
Secretary of Legislative Affairs for The Governor of Pennsylvania
2009–2011
Succeeded by
Annmarie Kaiser