Category: Press Release

Dear Friend,

This week marks six years since we launched Bullpen Strategy Group. In 2019, we set out to establish a new kind of strategic advisory firm designed to help clients solve problems, grow, and manage risk. Today, we’re proud to say that BSG has grown to a team of more than 50 professionals working for 80+ clients every month from offices in DC, Dallas, and London.

Over the past year, we’ve continued to invest and grow, with a dedicated focus on developing new AI-powered products to help solve client challenges. For example:

–BSG Rotunda revolutionizes the way clients monitor Congressional hearings, government meetings, conferences, and other live events. Rotunda simultaneously monitors every single Congressional hearing (1,000+ per year) and alerts clients to key issue/mentions based on AI natural language prompts – not clunky keywords. These instant alerts provide a video link, AI-generated transcript, and video clipping and sharing tools to make your job easier. There’s nothing else like it currently on the market.

–Raptor is BSG’s AI-driven research platform that uses large language models (LLMs) and advanced natural language processing (NLP) to allow users to instantly query, analyze, and extract insights from research reports, video transcripts, and primary documents.

–Echo is our new podcast intelligence platform built to autonomously capture and decode conversations across the vast and growing podcast space.

You’ll be hearing a lot more from us on these and more products in the coming weeks and months.

Finally, we continue to invest in and grow the firm, expanding our leadership team by promoting Michael Zona to Partner, and promoting 14 team members across all practice areas. As a result, BSG was once again named to the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest growing private companies in America – for the third straight year!

Of course, none of this is possible without the trust and confidence of our amazing clients, many of which have been with us since day one. We deeply appreciate these relationships, and look forward to years of continued growth and success going forward.

Sincerely,

Joe Pounder
Founder & CEO

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – For the third year in a row, Inc. Magazine has recognized Bullpen Strategy Group (BSG) on its annual Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America. Founded nearly six years ago, BSG continues to experience dynamic growth with more than 60 professionals working across three offices in Washington, DC, Dallas, and London.

“We’re very proud to make the Inc. 5000 for the third straight year – it’s a testament to our team’s growth and the trust our clients have continued to place in us,” said BSG CEO Joe Pounder. “We’re excited for the next evolution of BSG, including building AI-powered products like BSG Rotunda that help clients make better, more informed decisions in a far more efficient manner than ever before.”

“Making the Inc. 5000 is always a remarkable achievement, but earning a spot this year speaks volumes about a company’s tenacity and clarity of vision,” said Mike Hofman, editor-in-chief of Inc. “These businesses have thrived amid rising costs, shifting global dynamics, and constant change. They didn’t just weather the storm – they grew through it, and their stories are a powerful reminder that the entrepreneurial spirit is the engine of the U.S. economy.”

For the full list, company profiles, and a searchable database by industry and location, visit: www.inc.com/inc5000.

Methodology 

Companies on the 2025 Inc. 5000 are ranked according to percentage revenue growth from 2021 to 2024. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2021. They must be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit, and independent—not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies—as of December 31, 2024. (Since then, some on the list may have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2021 is $100,000; the minimum for 2024 is $2 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons.

About BSG

Bullpen Strategy Group (BSG) is a strategic advisory firm designed to help clients anticipate and manage competitive, regulatory, political, and media risks. Beyond traditional strategic communications, BSG provides clients with insights into media, politics, and influence. BSG currently has more than 60 professionals working in Washington, DC, London, and Dallas.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Bullpen Strategy Group (BSG) today announced 11 promotions across its Communications, Research & Analysis, and Media Intelligence practices, including two with BSG subsidiary Look Ahead Strategies. This is the largest slate of promotions in the nearly six-year history of the firm, which now has more than 60 professionals working across three offices in Washington, DC, Dallas, and London.

• In BSG’s Communications practice, Jay Boyd and Valerie Chicola have been promoted to Vice President and Madeleine Lefranc has been promoted to Senior Associate.
• In our Research & Analysis practice, Alex Koch has been promoted to Vice President.
• In our Media Intelligence practice, Beth Hitchcock has been promoted to Senior Vice President, George Basile and Kuljeet Singh have been promoted to Director, and Michael Kruszka has been promoted to Senior Associate.
• On BSG’s Operations team, Kyhanna Mclean has been promoted to Senior Associate.
• At BSG subsidiary Look Ahead Strategies, Julia Portela has been promoted to Senior Vice President and Patrick Wheat has been promoted to Vice President.

“We’re excited to promote these 11 team members, and are proud to see strong professional growth across our firm,” said BSG CEO Joe Pounder. “These promotions exemplify BSG’s commitment to investing in our people, and continuing to strengthen and expand our expertise and practice areas to better serve our clients.”

About Bullpen Strategy Group

Bullpen Strategy Group (BSG) is a strategic advisory firm designed to help clients anticipate and manage competitive, regulatory, political, and media risks. Beyond traditional strategic communications, BSG provides clients with insights into media, politics, and influence. BSG currently has more than 60 professionals working in Washington, DC, London, and Dallas.

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WASHINGTON, DC – Bullpen Strategy Group (BSG) today announced the expansion of its leadership team with the promotion of Michael Zona from Managing Director to Partner, and a series of new hires and Managing Directors at the firm.

New BSG partner Michael Zona joined the firm in 2021 from the U.S. Senate, where he served as Communications Director for the Senate Finance Committee majority as well as Communications Director for U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa. Over the last four years, he has developed a robust strategic communications practice with clients including Fortune 100 companies, trade associations, and issue advocacy organizations across industries, including finance, technology, and telecom, as well as litigation support and government oversight engagements.

“We’re excited to kick off 2025 by promoting Michael Zona to partner,” said BSG CEO Joe Pounder. “Over the past four years at BSG, Michael has built a thriving strategic communications practice serving some of the leading corporations and advocacy groups in America, working on a range of high-stakes public affairs efforts. We’re very proud to see our team continue to grow professionally through new promotions and to expand our offerings with new hires, positioning BSG for a strong year ahead.”

In addition to Zona, the firm announced three promotions – Chris Martin and Carter Reese from Senior Vice President to Managing Director at BSG, and Robert Buckley from Senior Vice President to Managing Director at BSG subsidiary Look Ahead Strategies.

The firm further announced three new hires:

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As BSG reflects on 2024, we are proud of what we have accomplished this year and are already looking forward to 2025 and beyond.

• BSG celebrated its 5 Year Anniversary! Since 2019, we have expanded our team to 60+ professionals spanning three offices across two continents and serve 80+ tremendous clients each month, many of which have been with us since day one.

• We expanded our partnership with the promotion of Erica Guyton and named our first Chief Financial Officer, Clay Bartel. An additional 9 team members were also promoted this year, maintaining our commitment to professional growth.

• We added over 10 new team members, including Senior Vice Presidents Carolyn Needham and Daniel Vu, and Vice President Ben Vihstadt.

• BSG has been recognized for two straight years on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest growing private companies in America.

• We previewed RaptorAI, our own internal AI platform which integrates all our proprietary research, advisory, and monitoring data and analysis together. By investing in AI, we are allowing our team to spend less time on the mundane data processing so they can bring even more creativity and insights to our work. We’re excited to roll it out early next year and onboard our clients onto the platform. 

• We expanded our Media Intelligence capability with the launch of BSG Caption, an in-house AI-enhanced live event monitoring and capture platform; grew Minotaur AI, an AI-powered video processing platform; and updated and refreshed our clients’ user experience across BSG’s Media Intelligence product suite.

• We grew our two subsidiaries: Look Ahead Strategies, serving political campaigns and advocacy organizations with research, communications, and general consulting services; and Kyber Research, purely focused on requesting and retrieving public records from across the U.S. and the world.

• BSG booked over 300 media interviews through our booking practice.

Finally, thank you to our incredible clients – we look forward to continuing our journey together in 2025!

Happy holidays,

Joe Pounder
CEO
Bullpen Strategy Group

Dear Friend,

Today, we at Bullpen Strategy Group (BSG) celebrate our five-year anniversary!

We launched in 2019 with the mission of building a new kind of strategic advisory firm designed to help clients meet their challenges, grow, and manage risk. Today, we’re proud to say that BSG has grown to a team of 60+ professionals spanning three offices across two continents. We’re now serving 80+ great clients every month and are making major investments in technology solutions and unique datasets, new services and practice areas, and growing our team with the goal of better meeting the challenges our client face daily in a ever-more complex and unpredictable world.

We obviously couldn’t do any of this without our amazing clients, many of which have been with us since day one. For that, we say thank you!

We’ve further launched two subsidiaries over the past two years: Look Ahead Strategies, a premium communications, consulting, and research firm serving political campaigns and advocacy clients, and Kyber Research, focused purely on public records/FOIA requests and retrievals. These new offerings strengthen our ability to serve our clients outside of what a traditional public affairs firm offer.

Finally, we say a big thank you to our strong and growing team. Their hard work and dedication are the reason BSG has been recognized for two straight years on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest growing private companies in America! Thank you!

We look forward to continuing this journey together.

Thank you,

Joe Pounder
CEO

WASHINGTON, DC – Bullpen Strategy Group (BSG) today announces the expansion of its partnership with the promotion of Erica Guyton from Chief People Officer to Partner, as well as Clay Bartel from Managing Director to Chief Financial Officer.

Guyton joined BSG in 2021, bringing more than a decade of experience spearheading organizational development, growth, expansion, and improvement across diverse corporate platforms. In that time, Erica has been instrumental in building the BSG team, which has grown to over 60 professionals spanning three offices across two continents.

Bartel is assuming the role of Chief Financial Officer for our organization as he plays a bigger role not only at BSG, but also for GP3 Partners and GP3 Technology Group.

“I can’t think of a better way to kick-off BSG’s 5-Year Anniversary than by announcing the promotion of two individuals that have proven to be paramount to our organization’s success,” said BSG CEO Joe Pounder. “When we introduced our ‘pathway to partnership’ plan in 2022, we had team members like Erica in mind. Erica has been a longtime part of our organization, helping to build our operations, and leading very successful recruitment drives as our organization grows. This is recognition of her expanded role as our Chief People Officer, which will ensure that our team is best situated and equipped to continue to deliver for our clients.

“Clay has been integral to our operations for many years, and this expanded role will ensure that BSG, GP3, and GP3 Tech Group are set up for long-term success.”

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – For the second year in a row, Inc. Magazine recognized Bullpen Strategy Group (BSG) on its annual Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America. This year, BSG moved up nearly 1,500 spots, rising to number 2,274 on Inc.’s 2024 list. Founded just five years ago, BSG has experienced dynamic growth, and now has more than 60 team members across three offices in Washington, DC, Dallas, and London.

“Making the Inc. 5000 for the second straight year is a testament to our team’s continued growth as well as the great confidence our clients place in us every day to deliver results,” said BSG CEO Joe Pounder. “As BSG approaches its five-year anniversary this September, we’re excited to build on this achievement as we make major investments in data, add top talent to our roster, and broaden our services to help our clients achieve their objectives.”

Earlier this year, BSG marked the one-year anniversary of two subsidiaries: Look Ahead Strategies, a specialized, full-service communications and research firm serving political, policy, and issue advocacy clients, and Kyber Research, which is dedicated to assisting clients with requesting and retrieving public records from across the United States and the world.

“One of the greatest joys of my job is going through the Inc. 5000 list,” says Mike Hofman, Inc.’s editor-in-chief. “Congratulations to this year’s honorees, as well, for growing their businesses fast despite the economic disruption we all faced over the past three years, from supply chain woes to inflation to changes in the workforce.”

Complete results of the Inc. 5000, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, location, and other criteria, are available at www.inc.com/inc5000.

Methodology 

Companies on the 2024 Inc. 5000 are ranked according to percentage revenue growth from 2020 to 2023. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2020. They must be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit, and independent—not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies—as of December 31, 2023. (Since then, some on the list may have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2020 is $100,000; the minimum for 2023 is $2 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons. Growth rates used to determine company rankings were calculated to four decimal places. 

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Bullpen Strategy Group (BSG) today announced six new hires and six promotions across its Communications, Research & Analysis, and Media Intelligence practices in both the Washington, DC, and London offices. BSG has experienced strong growth over the past year, and now has more than 60 team members across three offices in Washington, DC, Dallas, and London.

“We’re excited to make these talented additions to our roster at BSG – their deep experience both in government and the political arena will add value for our clients across the globe,” said BSG CEO Joe Pounder. “Further, we’re proud to see a number of our team members earn promotions for continuing to grow professionally over the past year. As we approach BSG’s five-year anniversary in September, we continue to strengthen and expand our practice areas to drive results for our clients.”

Joining the BSG team are:

Carolyn Needham – Senior Vice President, Research & Analysis: Carolyn brings more than a decade of experience in research, communications, and crisis management to BSG. Most recently, Carolyn served as Research Director for Nikki Haley’s 2024 presidential campaign, where she led research and rapid response operations. She was also integral to crafting communications strategies, debate preparation, and paid media. Prior to the campaign, Carolyn served in a range of roles with Stand for America (Haley’s Leadership PAC), the National Republican Senatorial Committee, America Rising, and Freedom Partners. Carolyn received her B.A. in History and Religious Studies from the University of Virginia.

Ben Vihstadt – Vice President, Communications: Prior to joining BSG, Ben served as Senior Communications Advisor for New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu for the past two years. From Governor Sununu’s first gubernatorial campaign in 2016 through his fourth and final term in office, Ben served as a key advisor and communications leader, both in the governor’s office and on his four statewide campaigns over that time period. Ben has led communications, digital, and rapid response efforts, and has extensive experience working with PACs, nonprofit political initiatives, and in government service. Ben graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree in Government.

Madeleine Lefranc – Associate, Communications: Madeleine brings expertise in media monitoring, democracy initiatives, and public affairs. Prior to BSG, Madeleine worked at CLYDE as a Public Affairs Fellow. She graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in Political Science and minors in French and Global Security Studies.

Sydney Maingot – Associate, Communications: Sydney brings to BSG experience in political campaigns, digital fundraising, and crisis communications. Prior to BSG, Sydney worked on the client strategy team at Targeted Victory, a Washington, DC-based public affairs and digital firm. She graduated from Florida State University with a degree in Political Science and International Affairs.

Cameron Helms – Associate, Media Intelligence: Cameron brings to BSG expertise in cybersecurity, intelligence, and strategy. She previously worked as an open-source intelligence analyst. A graduate of the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Cameron is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in cybersecurity from Johns Hopkins University.

Henrietta Hill – Associate, Media Intelligence: Henrietta joins BSG’s London office in the Media Intelligence team, keeping clients up to date with key, relevant news and developments to guide strategy. She is a B.A. History graduate from the University of Birmingham.

In addition, BSG announced six promotions: Jared Beard, Alex Koch, and Ryan McDowell to Senior Director, Giancarlo Payamps to Director, and Jack Lubbock and Kuljeet Singh to Senior Associate.

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BSG Caption Enhances Live Event Monitoring Capability With Transformative New Platform

WASHINGTON D.C – Bullpen Strategy Group (BSG) today unveiled its latest Media Intelligence capability: BSG Caption, an in-house AI-enhanced live event monitoring and capture platform.

Designed and built to enhance our live event monitoring capabilities, BSG Caption offers a transformative live streaming experience. Hearings, speeches, conferences, panel discussions and more now come with real-time transcripts and the ability to easily and instantly create video clips of key moments. 

BSG Caption stands out by integrating real-time translation, supporting over 90 languages, allowing BSG to provide clients access to events on a global scale.  Key Features of BSG Caption:

Live Streaming: Access video streams of events as they happen.

Real-Time Transcript: Follow along with transcripts of live broadcasts, ensuring you never miss a word.

Video Clipping: Intuitive interface allows users to easily create and share video clips of key moments, enhancing the impact of your communications campaign, analysis, and reporting.

Multi-Language Translation: Break language barriers with real-time translation in over 90 languages.

“From Congressional hearings to TV interviews to livestreams, today there are more live events to monitor than ever, and having the ability to monitor, capture, and digest fast-moving developments is key to maintain a competitive edge,” said BSG CEO Joe Pounder. “That’s why we built BSG Caption – to provide comprehensive, real-time access to the events that matter to our clients.” 

BSG Caption is now incorporated into all our clients’ live event monitoring programs. This addition to our Media Intelligence technology stack supercharges our ability to provide stakeholders a full-spectrum view of their media landscape. 

For more information on BSG Caption visit https://bullpenstrategygroup.com or contact us at contact@bullpenstrategygroup.com. 

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