Alumnus uses Washington experience to lobby for children’s nonprofit

St. Cloud State University alumnus Bob Bissen has made a career out of navigating the political arena, and he’s dedicating the twilight of his professional life to the children, families and communities depending on the national Head Start program.

Bissen initially enrolled at SCSU with the intention of transferring to the University of Minnesota after a year or two. He said he quickly changed his mind after arriving on campus and hearing about his friends’ experiences down in the Twin Cities.

“I had talked to people who had gone to the University of Minnesota and their freshman year, they had big lecture hall classes taught by TAs with 500 people. I didn't want that,” Bissen said. “I went to St. Cloud and when I registered for my first quarter, my first class was PoliSci211 and was taught by Dr. Evan Jones, who was the chair of the political science department at the time. I walked in there and there were maybe 20 people in the classroom. And I thought, ‘This makes all the sense in the world.’”

Bissen earned his degree in political science with minors in economics and public administration from SCSU in 1982. He then embarked on a career in the political realm that would last for over 40 years.

“I worked on political campaigns, I worked in the Minnesota Legislature, I worked on Capitol Hill, I worked out here in Washington, D.C.,” he said. “I worked for a couple of public affairs/lobbying firms — one very large multi-national firm that only did a little bit of lobbying and one for a small government affairs firm that did nothing but lobbying.”

In the early 2020s, Bissen started looking for what he presumed would be the last chapter in his professional life. His interest in nonprofit work had increased as his connections and experiences grew over the years, and when he saw a job posting with the National Head Start Association, everything clicked. He’s been with the organization since 2021 as a senior director of government affairs.

“I absolutely love what I'm doing. It's like the culmination of everything I spent the earlier part of my career doing. It's taking policy and politics and putting them together,” Bissen said. “But instead of having either a million clients when I was working for a lobbying firm, I have one client: the people who attend, work for, or have kids in Head Start. I love it. I've been able to do fun things with it.”

Bissen appreciates that, in some ways, there are less politics when working to support Head Start.

“I now can go into a meeting on the Hill with a Head Start program director or some parents who have kids in Head Start or teachers from a Head Start program, and it doesn't matter — Republican, Democrat, man, woman, liberal, conservative — that Congress member leans in and is anxious to hear their story and wants to know about them,” he said. “I have come to realize that I can do a very good job of representing somebody on the Hill, but facilitating these folks doing it for themselves is so much better. It makes a connection.”

The main priorities of Bissen’s job are to secure funding and educate others about Head Start.

“Head Start is an organization that falls under what is called non-defense discretionary funding. So every year, the Head Start budget in Congress is effectively starting from zero. We work with the administration — be it Republican or Democrat — and with the House and the Senate to try to develop the best request that we can make and work to secure the highest level of funding we can achieve for them. This fiscal year 2026 was a very dire budget cycle because of what was going on on the Hill and in the administration, but we were able to get an increase in Head Start funding of $85 million,” he said. “As I have said a million times: it's not what we ask for, it's not what we need, it's not what Head Start deserves, but in the circumstances and the environment that we were working in, it was a tremendous success. So that's the number one thing. The second thing is really just opening eyes among those members. There's a certain group of members of Congress who love Head Start, who always support Head Start, and there's a small number who actually attended Head Start — so there are people who get it. There are other members who have no idea.”

Education is paramount to obtaining support for the program. Bissen provided a previous example of a freshman member of Congress visiting a Head Start program in Florida who came into the meeting not knowing enough of the program’s background or funding sources.

“One of the things I noticed when I first started working for Head Start was that there's a lot of articles out there, they call it “childcare for poor kids” and stuff like that. But to be categorically eligible for Head Start — you can fall below a certain income threshold, or if you are experiencing homelessness, or if you are in the foster care system, if you're differently abled physically or mentally and things like that, you are categorically eligible. I made sure that whenever a program was hosting a member of Congress, they would tell them this,” Bissen said. “So the Florida program director starts going through that pitch with this Congress member and comes to the factor of foster care. And all of a sudden, the light bulb turned on because, not the member, but the member's spouse had grown up in the foster care system. It was like, ‘Okay, this now impacts me personally.’ So this is a very conservative Republican member who still is a little concerned about the amount of money that Head Start receives on an annual basis, but now has a much better understanding of how Head Start operates and for whom.

“It’s really an education thing. It's helping these programs educate through the media, through direct meetings, through all this, educate Congress and the communities in which they operate on the value that Head Start brings to the community and to the kids and families it serves.”

Bissen has consistently been recognized as a top lobbyist on the Hill for his advocacy work on behalf of Head Start. He said there can be some misconceptions with the term lobbyist; even his own mother didn’t like it.

“My mother didn't mind that I was a lobbyist. She hated that I was called a lobbyist. And I would have these arguments with her all the time,” Bissen said. “The way I look at it, is there's a definition of lobbyists that sometimes they are thought of as the people in the $3,000 suits who are lining people's pockets and flying off to go to fancy fundraisers every weekend. And then there are the people who represent the Head Starts of the world — or the LIHEAP (Low Income Energy Assistance) programs, or the library association, or entities like that — who are trying to help them do their small part to help the world.”

In addition to his work for Head Start, Bissen enjoys educating others about the political realm, Capitol Hill and how D.C. operates. He has met with students from his alma mater a number of times when they’ve gone on SCSU trips to Washington, D.C., and has given tours to the parents of Head Start participants who have never been to the nation’s capitol before.

Bissen encouraged those considering a career in political science to go into it with intention and a direction in mind, and to work hard.

“If you’re thinking about studying political science — which is great; I learned a lot — know what you want to do with it when you come out of school. Are you using it simply as a means of learning so you can go to law school? Are you learning it so you can go to work for the state legislature or go to work in Congress? Are you learning it just so you understand the system a little bit more so you can go work for a nonprofit?” he said. “That's the biggest thing; is if you're in school now and if you are thinking about doing that — think down, think out, think ahead.

“I think the biggest thing is that I went to St. Cloud State and I got a very good education. You don't have to go to an expensive Ivy League school to be successful in whatever you want to do. When you show up on campus, you have to make the most of it, and I think that's the most important thing,” he said. “Because whether you graduate from St. Cloud or Harvard or Stanford — they're not just going to show up and say, ‘Okay, just exchange your diploma for this fabulous job.’ And then even after you start working, it’s going to be the same thing: you’ve got to put into it what you want to get out of it.”