Kristi Pappalardo is the director of global alliances and business strategy at the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center and leads the center’s partnership development and stakeholder engagement across its various programs and thematic bodies of work. Before joining the Global Energy Center, Pappalardo spent more than six years in the Atlantic Council’s Office of External Relations overseeing the corporate relations strategy across the organization and leading the fundraising campaigns for the annual Distinguished Leadership Awards in Washington, DC, and the Global Citizen Awards in New York. In this role, she collaborated with the Council’s various initiatives to identify financial growth opportunities and build new partnerships for the Council’s ambitious programming agenda. Pappalardo joined the Global Energy Center in 2022 to focus on the Council’s increasing energy-related efforts and rapidly growing program. 

Prior to the Atlantic Council, Pappalardo was a director at the Advanced Technology Academic Research Center where she oversaw the strategic planning, marketing, and business development for federal information-technology programs that brought together government and industry to resolve emerging technology challenges. Pappalardo also spent six years at the National Italian American Foundation working closely with the White House, US Congress, Italian government, and business community to organize international conferences, delegation trips, gala dinners, and other programs intended to advance the US-Italy relationship. Pappalardo began her career at ABC News in Washington, DC, taking on various duties assigned by the bureau, and eventually took on a production coordinator role at Nightline. 

Pappalardo has a master’s degree from American University’s School of International Service and a bachelor’s degree in government and politics from the University of Maryland.  She also earned a graduate certificate in cross-culture communication from American University and studied European political integration at the University of Rome Tor Vergata as part of the Jean Monnet program.