Pocket Profile: Tim Bertocci

Age: 38

Alma mater: United States Military Academy for undergraduate, Georgetown University for masters.

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Washington Examiner: How did you start working on Capitol Hill?

Bertocci: I come from a military family. My dad was in the Army and I have an older brother who graduated from West Point in 1984. I was about 7 or 8 years old when he was going there, which is an impressionable time for a young kid to go up there and watch football and see parades and hang out with my brother’s friends. I just remember them being a great group of guys, and that followed with me through high school. I just kind of always knew that is where I wanted to go to school.

My mom is a nurse, my sister is a teacher, we just kind of have a service mentality. I just knew that I wanted to do that in some capacity.

So I went into the Army at age 22 and became a platoon leader. I was in Iraq from 2005 to 2006 and when I got back, I had gotten to see what strategic decisions in Washington meant at the boots-on-the-ground level. I had an intellectual curiosity to see where those decisions were made, so I applied to Georgetown and got into a security studies program.

I got into some veterans advocacy work after grad school and heard about this guy named Tim Walz. I knew a little bit about his history, that he was a former school teacher, football coach and National Guardsman who was talking about veterans issues from a point of expertise.

I got inspired and said I want to be around that guy in some format. There was a job opening in the office for legislative assistant for veterans so I applied through email and somehow got the job. I worked for him from 2009 to 2010 and it was great.

I worked here as the veterans legislative assistant for a year and three months, then did a stint in the foreign service down in Cuba as a foreign service officer. But then, due to some family issues, I wanted to be closer to home. Between that and the legislative director job becoming open, I went ahead and was fortunate enough to land the job.

Examiner: What’s your day-to-day job like in the office?

Bertocci: The way our organization is set up is our chief of staff is out in the district in Minnesota. We’re a very district-based office. Our organization is one where the boss is a servant leader from his time in the Army. The best example of that is in the Army, the officers and senior enlisted folks eat last, the soldiers always eat first. To the bosses, our constituents are always first.

I work with a great group of folks here in D.C., they are legislative experts and legislative jedis, we have a very collaborative office. We like to think strategically and make a strategy every two years and then have a little tactical plan within those two years to achieve those objectives. It’s a very organized way to think, but we try to remain flexible because you can’t control a lot of stuff.

Examiner: What do you do in your free time?

Bertocci: I enjoy being around family and friends, of course. It’s cool because a lot of my Army buddies who have stayed in and those who have gotten out have found their way to D.C., so it’s cool being here because it’s like a big reunion. My family is close, so that’s awesome. I have two dogs. And a couple years ago in 2009 when I was working for a Minnesota member, I figured I better learn how to skate and play hockey, so I’m on an adult beer league hockey team. I’m not very good, but it’s a lot of fun.