Bismarck resident Bob Van Heuvelen is resigning his position as chief of staff after a long career working for Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., the senator's office announced Tuesday.

Van Heuvelen, 56, has served as Conrad's chief of staff for nearly a decade. In a press release announcing the resignation, Conrad called him "a dear friend and trusted colleague who is deeply committed to both the people of North Dakota and our nation."

Starting this fall, Van Heuvelen will run a government consulting shop business that serves private clients with interests before the federal government. He intends to call the business Van Heuvelen Strategies.

"In anybody's life, there comes a time for change," Van Heuvelen said. "After doing this for a number of years on the public side, I'm hoping to do the same things on the private side."

He said this was a good time to depart because Conrad had recently secured re-election and is toward the beginning of a new six-year term with new goals and opportunities.

A graduate of Bismarck High School, Van Heuvelen began his Washington career in 1975 as an aide to former Sen. Quentin Burdick, D-N.D. He later worked as a lawyer in the U.S. Justice Department and as director of regulatory enforcement for the Environmental Protection Agency.

In 1997, Van Heuvelen returned to Capitol Hill when Conrad, a longtime friend, asked him to be his chief of staff. He earned $160,658 in that role during Congress' last annual pay period, according to LegisStorm.com, a database of Capitol Hill salaries.

(Reach reporter Jonathan Rivoli at 223-8482 or jonathan.rivoli@;bismarcktribune.com.)