Sally Painter

Chief Operating Officer, Blue Star Strategies, United States of America

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 theatre production ANN, a dramatization of the life of former Texas Governor Ann Richards.