Updated: 10:06 p.m.

C.R. Wooters, chief of staff to Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), is leaving Capitol Hill to join Purple Strategies.

In an email sent today, the Maryland native said leaving his home state Member’s office was bittersweet, but “Purple presented me with a great opportunity to apply some of that knowledge and campaign experience to the private sector.”

Wooters served as director of incumbent retention at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee under Van Hollen and as director of member services when the lawmaker served as special assistant to the Speaker, before becoming his personal office chief of staff. Wooters has worked on the Hill and on campaigns for more than a dozen years.

Purple Strategies, a bipartisan public affairs firm based in Alexandria, Va., was launched by Steve McMahon, Alex Castellanos and Bruce Haynes and has nabbed plenty of other Hill talent as it’s grown, including Rob Collins, former chief of staff to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.).