Steve Chartan is the Vice President for Government Relations at The Heritage Foundation.

Chartan joined Heritage after a 15-year career advancing conservative policies on Capitol Hill and in the private sector. During his 12 years of congressional service, he held senior roles with leading conservative members. His most recent role in Congress was chief of staff to Senator Ted Cruz, serving as Senator Cruz’s top advisor and leading his official team. He began his tenure with Senator Cruz in 2015 as legislative director. Prior to that, Chartan was the founding executive director of the House Freedom Caucus. Under the chairmanship of Congressman Jim Jordan, he served as the organization’s lead legislative strategist.

Previously, Chartan served as policy advisor for the Senate Steering Committee under two chairmen, Senator Mike Lee and Senator Pat Toomey. Before joining the Steering Committee, he was a legislative staff member for Senator Toomey. Following his congressional service, Chartan was a principal with AxAdvocacy, a government relations, public affairs, and strategic and crisis communications firm. Chartan is a graduate of Duke University.