Novitas Communications announced Monday that Jaime Gardner, wife of former U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, will be the Denver-based public affairs firm’s business development and communications director.

Gardner has 20 years of public relations and communications experience, with an extensive background in the telecom, agriculture, technology, energy and natural resources industries.

She led her own communications firm the last 12 years, after working for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Department of Interior in Colorado and Washington, D.C. Gardner also has worked for Lucent Technologies in Colorado and Huizen, Netherlands.

Gardner was the executive director of the Colorado Resource Alliance for eight years and was the executive director of the Houston-based Consumer Energy Education Foundation. She organized and administered the Front Range Energy Career Expo, a high school energy education and college/career fair event.

“Jaime brings a great wealth of industry knowledge that matters to our clients and is an incredible community leader,” Novitas’ CEO Michelle Lyng said in a statement. “With her successful record over many years of work in the public affairs and communications space and her ability to quickly form positive relationships, Jaime is perfectly positioned to drive success across Novitas’ broad portfolio of communications and media services, and we are delighted for her to play a part in our future success.”