https://www.bluestarstrategies.com/about/our-team/sally-a-painter

Sally A. Painter is Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer at Blue Star Strategies, LLC, where she provides corporate, institutional, and public sector clients with external affairs, foreign and security policy guidance, and global business development strategies. Ms. Painter also serves on the Board of Directors of the Atlantic Council as a senior advisor to its Future Europe Initiative as well as on the International Advisory Board of GLOBSEC.

From 1993-1995, Ms. Painter was a senior advisor in the Clinton Administration where she managed the Office of Business Liaison’s outreach and advocacy program for the late Secretary of Commerce Ronald H. Brown, providing strategic advice and advocacy for U.S companies bidding on overseas contracts.

Ms. Painter's work focuses on supporting the democratic, economic development, and rule of law aspirations of countries around the world, particularly those undergoing transition. She is a key leader and trusted advisor in the European space, representing global businesses and governments on their most important investment and foreign policy issues, including NATO, EU, and OECD accession and the historic legislation passed by the U.S. Congress allowing their citizens to enter the U.S. visa-free.

Previously, Ms. Painter served as director of international at Tenneco Inc., a Fortune 500 company and was instrumental in the creation and management of the Trans-Atlantic Business Dialogue and the French American Business Council.

Ms. Painter serves on the boards of the U.S. Committee on NATO, Truman National Security Project, Global Fairness Initiative, Muslim Jewish Conference, Partners for Democratic Change, National Center for Sustainable Development, Spend Consciously, and 4D PAC.

She is the recipient of the Golden Laurel Branch Award from the Republic of Bulgaria, Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit from the Republic of Hungary, and the Minister of Defence Award for Distinction from the Republic of Latvia. She is also a producer of the Broadway theater production ANN, a dramatization of the life of former Texas Governor Ann Richards.

A certified downhill ski instructor, Ms. Painter is married with one son, George, a design stylist.

https://www.bluestarstrategies.com/impact/success-stories/strengthening-bilateral-relations

ukraine

Strategic Recommendations

In order to overcome these challenges, Blue Star Strategies developed a strategy to leverage support among the U.S. policy elite as well as public opinion for an enhanced bilateral relationship. Two primary strategic recommendations guided our approach: to work with the U.S. government to identify fruitful areas of mutual interest on which to focus engagement; and to establish a stand-alone framework for a new bilateral relationship with the U.S. to be based on a number of areas of substantive engagement.

Program Elements

With our deep ties to the U.S. Administration, Blue Star Strategies implemented a multi-track outreach program targeted towards key decision makers in the Executive, Congress, and among leading opinion leaders in order to promote a robust bilateral relationship. This outreach included Congressional meetings and hearings; high level bilateral engagements between the leadership of the two countries in order to develop a substantive agenda; a media strategy that included publications in the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal; and support for an ongoing program of roundtable discussions and events in collaboration with prominent think tanks and leading scholars.

Results

Blue Star Strategies' efforts resulted in a number of critical advancements in the bilateral relationship. U.S. officials better understood the importance of a closer bilateral relationship at the highest levels and Members of Congress publicly supported this relationship, clearly stating that the U.S.-Russia "reset" must not be allowed to occur at the expense of such important alliances. A series of high level bilateral visits demonstrated the mutual commitment to an improved relationship, including at the vice presidential and Ministerial levels, as did the inauguration of a newly created bilateral commission in Washington, DC.

https://www.bluestarstrategies.com/about/our-team/karen-tramontano

Karen A. Tramontano is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Blue Star Strategies, LLC, where she provides corporate, institutional, and public sector clients with results oriented strategies.

From 1997 to 2001, Ms. Tramontano served in the White House as deputy chief of staff to President William Jefferson Clinton and counselor to Erskine Bowles and John Podesta. Her portfolio encompassed a wide range of issues, including international trade and transatlantic relations as well as economic and financial issues concerning the World Trade Organization, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund.

In 2001, Ms. Tramontano served as chief of staff for President Clinton’s transition, where she established his office and presence in New York City.

Ms. Tramontano is also Founder and President of the Global Fairness Initiative, a nonprofit organization working to promote a more equitable and sustainable approach to globalization. She serves as a lecturer in the Executive Master of European and International Business Law program at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.

Previously, Ms. Tramontano served as chief of staff to mayor of the District of Columbia Sharon Pratt, chief of staff to Service Employees International Union presidents John Sweeney and Andy Stern, and counsel to the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

Ms. Tramontano earned a Juris Doctor degree from Catholic University Law School and a B.A. from Boston College. An aging tri-athlete, she holds a fifth degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do.