Duncan Campbell

uncan Campbell has worked for Tom Ridge his entire professional life and even gave piano lessons to Ridge's daughter. When Campbell graduated from Cornell University in 1993, the Camp Hill, Pa., native volunteered for the gubernatorial campaign of an up-and-coming candidate: then-Rep. Tom Ridge, R-Pa. Campbell instead landed a job in the representative's personal office in Washington. "The $24,000 salary seemed like millions," Campbell, 32, recalled.

Soon, he bounced back to the gubernatorial campaign. After Ridge won, Campbell held several jobs in Ridge's administration and eventually directed the governor's PAC, the Ridge Leadership Fund. In 2000, Campbell became director of the Pennsylvania Bush-Cheney Campaign, and he later served as executive director of the Republican Governors Association while Ridge was its chairman.

When Ridge reported to the White House on October 8, 2001, Campbell did, too, as director of intergovernmental affairs for the new Office of Homeland Security. His job was to reach out to the states. So, he parlayed his RGA relationships into contacts for homeland security and began studying the issue. As one of the office's initial staff members, he helped plan the first homeland-security budget and was a strong advocate for what became the budget's first-responder component.

When the Homeland Security Department was created, Campbell became Ridge's deputy chief of staff for operations, focused on scheduling and on communicating with the private sector, Congress, and the public. Campbell moved up to departmental chief of staff in November and has added policy and planning to his portfolio. Key to his job is his close relationship with Ridge. Other staffers often run ideas past Campbell to gauge how Ridge might react. "I do my best to give them an unvarnished perspective," Campbell said.