Steven Rauschenberger

Former State Senator, Illinois
President, Board of Directors

Steve Rauschenberger served in the Illinois State Senate from 1993 until 2007. He was appointed Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee in his first term and served in that position until 2003 when the Democrats took control of the Senate. He was appointed as the Assistant Senate Republican Leader. In 1999, Senator Rauschenberger was chosen to serve as the first Co-Chair of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) Executive Committee Task Force on State and Local Taxation which led the effort to allow states to collect sales and use taxes on remote and Internet transactions and the modernization of communications taxation. He was elected to serve as President of NCSL from 2005-2006.

Currently, he is the President of Rauschenberger Partners, a government relations consulting firm, and a Senior Advisor at the Heartland Solutions Group. He also was President of the Technology and Manufacturing Association, which represents precision manufacturing and supplier companies in Illinois from 2015 to 2021.

Deb Peters

Former State Senator, South Dakota
Secretary-Treasurer, Board of Directors

Deb Peters was elected to the South Dakota House of Representatives in 2005 and the South Dakota State Senate in 2009, serving until January 2019. Peters served as the Vice Chair of the NCSL Executive Committee Task Force on State and Local Taxation and was elected to serve as the 45th President of NCSL from 2017-2018. Peters also served as the President of the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board in 2015 and was recognized as one of Governing Magazine’s “Public Officials of the Year” in 2016. Senator Peters’ legislation to require remote and Internet sellers to collect and remit the sales taxes on transactions by South Dakota residents led to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair in 2018 giving all states the authority to require the collection of sales taxes on remote transactions.

Peters is the owner of Pinnacle Adviser LLC, previously known as Central Valley Accounting Solutions LLC, which provides business consulting budgeting and tax compliance for small and mid-sized businesses from a variety of industries. She also was the Chief Financial Officer of the South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations from 2018-2021.

William Murphy

Former Speaker, Rhode Island

Bill Murphy was first elected to the Rhode Island House of Representatives in 1992 and in January 2003 was elected by his colleagues to be 221st Speaker of the Rhode Island House of Representatives. He served in that Position until 2011. During his tenure, Speaker Murphy was credited with strengthening the role of the legislature in the enactment of Separation of Powers legislation. He also led the efforts for pension reform, tax reform, and economic development, including a productive film and television tax credit program. All fiscal budgets enacted under Speaker Murphy’s leadership were adopted without raising broad-based taxes or income taxes.

Speaker Murphy is a partner and trial attorney with Murphy and Fay, LLP in Providence. He also is a partner with Dome Consultants, a government relations firm.

Felix Ortiz

Former Assistant Speaker, New York

Felix Ortiz was elected to the New York State Assembly in November 1994. During his tenure in the Assembly, Ortiz was a leader on labor issues and food and nutrition policy. In 2015, he was appointed to a leadership role in the Assembly as the first Hispanic to serve as Assistant Speaker, which he held until leaving the Assembly in 2020. He served as chair of the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators (NHCSL). Ortiz also was a member of the NCSL Executive Committee, the Council of State Governments (CSG) Executive Committee and a Board Member of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO).

Since leaving the Assembly, Ortiz has been a visiting lecturer on government and politics at several colleges and universities.

Tonya Schuitmaker

Former Senate President Pro Tem, Michigan

Tonya Schuitmaker was elected to the Michigan House of Representatives in 2004 and served three terms in the House before being term limited out. She was elected to the Senate in 2010 and served through 2018. She was chosen by her colleagues in the Senate to serve as the Senate President Pro Tem. In the Senate she also served as Chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on High Education and the Vice Chair of the Judiciary Committee.

Schuitmaker was recently selected to be the co-director of the Michigan Political Leadership Program (MPLP) at Michigan State University (MSU). MPLP annually selects 24 people to earn a MSU certificate by completing ten months of training focused on personal leadership, campaign operations, governing and communications.

Leticia Van de Putte

Former Senate President Pro Tem, Texas

Leticia Van de Putte, a practicing pharmacist since 1980, served in the Texas Legislature for over two decades representing San Antonio and Bexar County. First elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1990 she served in the House until 1999 when she was elected in a special election to fill a vacancy in the State Senate. Van de Putte served in the Senate until 2015. In 2003 she was appointed Chair of the Texas Senate Democratic Caucus a position she held until 2011. She was elected Senate President Pro Tempore in 2013.

Van de Putte served as the Co-Chair of the NCSL Executive Committee Task Force on State and Local Taxation and was elected by her colleagues to serve as NCSL’s President for the 2006-2007 term. She also was the president of the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators from 2003 to 2005. In 2008, Van De Putte served as co-chair of the 2008 Democratic National Convention and in 2016 was chosen as chair of the 2016 Democratic National Convention Rules Committee.

Currently Van de Putte and former Texas Secretary of State, Hope Andrade joined forces to form Andrade-Van de Putte, a full-service consulting firm.