About Us

About SplitOak Strategies

Sarah Kuehl Egge, Founding Partner and Principal

Sarah launched her career in the late 1990s as a Legislative Assistant and Policy Analyst to former Finance Committee member Senator Bob Kerrey (D-NE), advising him on tax, health care, Social Security, budget and appropriations matters.

For nearly a dozen years, Sarah served as the lead health care and entitlements analyst for the Democratic Staff of the Senate Budget Committee under Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND). She has extensive expertise in the budget, reconciliation and appropriations processes, and was deeply involved with the development and advancement of key legislation, including the Affordable Care Act, the Budget Control Act, the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act, and the Deficit Reduction Act.

Sarah was a key advisor to Chairman Conrad during his participation with the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (aka, “Bowles-Simpson Commission”). She was selected by Co-Chairman Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) to serve as Deputy Staff Director of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (aka, the “Supercommittee”), where she helped Committee members navigate complex policy and budgetary tradeoffs of a major deficit reduction package.

Following nearly 15 years in the U.S. Senate, Sarah joined the team at Washington Council EY, where she worked with pharmaceutical and device manufacturers, large national employers, health insurers, health insurance agents and brokers, health care providers, and think tanks to shape national health policy.

Sarah received a B.A. in History and Public Affairs from the University of Denver and a Masters Degree in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.

Amy Jensen, Founding Partner and Principal

Amy is an experienced Washington health care leader with many years of experience with the U.S. government and leading government relations organizations.

Prior to co-founding SplitOak Strategies LLC, she led health care Government Relations for several entities including Washington Council EY, GE Healthcare, the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed), and Caris Life Sciences.

For two years, Amy worked in the White House, serving as Special Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs. At the White House, Cunniffe participated in the drafting, passage and implementation of the Medicare Part D drug benefit legislation. Earlier in her career, she worked as an Assistant to the Speaker of the House of Representatives for Policy, among other responsibilities in the House Republican leadership. In Congress, Cunniffe helped build the Medicare Advantage program, modernize the FDA and ensure passage of the Balanced Budget Act (BBA) along with two subsequent pieces of legislation to fine-tune the BBA.

Amy is passionate about changing health care from the patient perspective and is active in the pediatric cancer community.

Arielle Woronoff, Principal

Arielle has been at the table drafting, negotiating and implementing every major piece of health care legislation of the last decade, including the CARES Act, the 2015 Bipartisan Budget Act, the 21^st Century Cures Act, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA), and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

Most recently, Arielle served as the Deputy Chief of Staff and Director of the Office of Legislation at CMS, where she oversaw and coordinated policy, operational and messaging strategies and represented the Administrator’s priorities to key departmental partners, agency staff and key stakeholders.  She also served as the agency’s chief liaison to Congress, where she developed and executed legislative strategy for key CMS priorities and provided strategic and technical input on agency administrative actions including during the development, passage, and implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act.  

Prior to joining CMS in 2021, Arielle served as Senior Health Counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, Majority Staff under Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR).  Her portfolio was focused on the Affordable Care Act, drug pricing issues (including the development of the bipartisan Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act), and Medicare Advantage, while also working on policy issues related to Medicare hospital payment and health information technology.  

Before joining the Finance Committee, Arielle worked for the House Energy & Commerce Committee for Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-NJ), covering Medicare Part B, the Affordable Care Act, and health information technology. During this time, Arielle was a lead negotiator on key provisions of the 2015 Bipartisan Budget Act, the 21^st Century Cures Act and the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA). Arielle came to the Energy and Commerce Committee after advising Senator Cory A. Booker (D-NJ) on health policy.  Prior to this, Arielle was Domestic Policy Counsel for Congressman Sander M. Levin (D-MI), then the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Ways and Means, advising the Congressman on health care, Social Security, income security, and budget issues. 

Arielle has a Master of Public Policy degree with a concentration in health policy from the Rutgers Bloustein School for Planning and Public Policy and a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center.