Brian Diffell
Ridge Path Strategies is a boutique advocacy and strategic advisory firm that works across many areas of policy, including international trade, export controls, foreign policy, defense policy, tax issues, and technology.
Brian Diffell founded Ridge Path Strategies after more than two decades of combined government and private sector experience. His twelve-year career as a congressional aide to Roy Blunt brought him experience in both the House and Senate leadership during stints in the majority and the minority. After leaving Capitol Hill in 2013, Brian lobbied on tax and trade policy during major legislative battles spanning three administrations.
During his government career, Brian worked across all areas of public policy. In his time in the House Republican leadership, Brian served as a key liaison with the Bush Administration on national security policy, including preparing and implementing legislative strategies related to Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, and worked to secure passage of President Bush’s ambitious trade policy agenda.
The experience of working in both the House and Senate leadership and the contacts he maintains with senior leadership and committee staffers in both parties provide unparalleled insight into the actions of the House and Senate at the highest levels of decision-making. During his Capitol Hill career, Brian served as the lead House Majority Whip policy staffer during the narrow passage of the U.S.-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR CAFTA) in 2005, lead House majority staffer in negotiating and passing the Iran Sanctions Act of 2006, lead House Republican staffer on bipartisan negotiations leading to the passage of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments Act of 2008, and lead Senate Republican staffer on bipartisan negotiations leading to the passage of free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama in 2011.
In the private sector, his lobbying successes include securing key provisions for clients during congressional consideration of the Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015, and the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, as well as scoring wins and protecting client interests from legislative threats during the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. During the COVID emergency, Brian served as a go-to strategist for clients across the spectrum as they worked to protect their interests in a frenetic legislative environment.
Brian’s unique legislative experience makes him one of the few former staffers with policy, political, and strategic experience across both the House and Senate in both the majority and the minority. Brian has always worked easily and successfully across the party aisle and has strategized on all aspects of the policy-making process, including communications, floor strategy, Member management, and political dynamics. He brings the same attitude toward getting things done on behalf of clients, even in the difficult Washington political environment we face today.