Erica Tergeson is the owner and founder of Crosswinds Solutions, a full-service government and public affairs company.  Erica has worked on and off Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. for the House Appropriations Committee, House Natural Resources Committee, and several U.S. Representatives.  She has also represented non-profits, trade associations, and publicly and privately held companies in Washington, D.C.  She specializes in natural resources policy and politics but also represents clients in the fintech sector. Tergeson has served as a spokesperson conducting numerous TV and radio interviews and numerous speaking engagements.  She has also authored op-eds and various policy and legislative articles published and quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Daily Caller, and Washington Free Beacon. Recently, she served as a member of the Secretary of the Interior’s International Wildlife Conservation Council.  

Previously, Tergeson was Staff Director for the U.S. House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee’s Subcommittee on Federal Lands from 2015 through 2017.   There she was responsible for conducting congressional hearings, drafting and passing laws, and negotiating numerous bills with the U.S. Senate and the Administration.  The Subcommittee had jurisdiction over the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.  Erica was the key negotiator in several large conference committees to resolve differences between the House and Senate.

From 2013-15 Erica was a federal lobbyist for NRA-ILA where she handled the states of Idaho, Montana, Florida, Nebraska, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Mississippi.  She was also the principal advisor on natural resources, wildlife, hunting, and appropriations issues.

In 2011, Tergeson was hired as professional staff with the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Interior Appropriations.  There she wrote and negotiated numerous appropriations bills and continuing resolutions funding the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Forest Service.  

Prior to her service on the Appropriations Committee, Erica was the Director of Policy at the Society of American Foresters (professional society) from 2009-2011 and a government affairs advisor at Ball Janik, LLP in Washington, DC, from 2007 to 2008, where she represented clients in the field of natural resources.  From 2002 to 2007 she served as a member of the legislative staff of the House Natural Resources Committee, where she worked on federal and public land-related bills and laws. She also served on the personal staffs of U.S. Representatives Richard Pombo (R-CA) and Bob Schaffer (R-CO).

Erica was born in California and raised in a ranching family in Northern Colorado.  She attended Colorado State University and received a B.A. in Political Science that led her to Capitol Hill after graduation.