Steve Wolfe

Vice President

SMI Vice President and defense policy expert with three decades of congressional and executive branch advocacy experience

Profile

Steve Wolfe, Vice President, has represented companies, universities, non-profit organizations, and coalitions before Congress and the executive branch since 1997. Prior to joining SMI, he was a Principal and co-founder of Cardinal Point Partners, LLC, after beginning his consulting career as the head of his own practice. He works with clients across the defense, advanced manufacturing, medical technology, and advanced energy sectors.

Companies new to the federal market confront a challenge unlike anything in the commercial world: they must satisfy not customers but stakeholders — every entity with contracting, policy, regulatory, or legislative authority over a government decision, along with those who wield political influence over each. Steve helps clients map that landscape and build federal business strategies that win both funding and policy support, working across the full acquisition spectrum from basic research through development, procurement, and lifecycle management. His work includes securing direct congressional appropriations for defense and medical technology research and development programs, positioning emerging technologies for federal acquisition, and developing advocacy campaigns that pair congressional engagement with executive branch and agency strategy. More recently, he has focused on helping clients pursue large-scale industrial and infrastructure investment through new federal financing and investment authorities.

Steve built his advocacy practice on experience gained as senior advisor for defense policy and military affairs to Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He served as Senator Kennedy’s senior aide on all Committee business, principally the annual writing and passage of the National Defense Authorization Act. Prior to his Senate service, he conducted research on national security affairs at the Brookings Institution and the Henry L. Stimson Center, policy research organizations in Washington, DC.

Education & Credentials

Steve holds an A.B. cum laude in Social Studies from Harvard College and a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

Practice Areas

Advanced Materials
Aerospace & Space
Defense Industrial Base
Energy Innovation
Life Sciences
Shipbuilding & Naval Technologies