I met Steven Karalekas on a plane and we immediately connected on so many levels, that I felt compelled to have him on the program.  Steven is a fabulous storyteller going all the way back to his days in the Nixon White House.  A lifelong Republican, it was interesting here is take on the current state of national politics and how things were different back in the 1970’s and 1980’s when he was spending a lot of time with his best friend, Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy.

Steven Karalekas served as a lawyer-lobbyist based in Washington, DC for four decades. He has represented some of the largest companies including General Electric, Boeing, UNISYS, Westinghouse and Israel Aircraft Industries and numerous smaller companies in their dealings with the White House, Department of Defense and Congress.  He has been involved in large military base development and redevelopment projects in Washington, DC and the states of Massachusetts, New York, Maryland, Connecticut and Texas. He has also represented the governments of Mexico, Bangladesh, Panama, Russia, Bermuda and the former German Democratic Republic.

Mr. Karalekas served on the personal White House staff of President Richard M. Nixon from 1971-1973, and as Chief of Staff to Massachusetts Congressman Paul W. Cronin from 1973-1974. He was appointed by Secretary of Defense Casper Weinberger to be the first chairman of the Board of Visitors of the Defense Information School, Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, and was a Founding Board Member, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation, Washington, D.C. In 2011, he was appointed to the Board of Visitors of IU McKinney School of Law.

Mr. Karalekas was awarded the Department of Defense Outstanding Civilian Service Medal by then Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney and the Navy’s highest civilian recognition, the Secretary of the Navy’s Distinguished Public Service Medal. A team led by Mr. Karalekas was named national “Public Affairs Campaign of the Year for 2005” by PR Week Magazine for its pivotal role in saving the Naval Submarine Base, New London, Connecticut, from closure in that year’s base closure round.

Mr. Karalekas graduated from the United States Naval Academy (B.S. with Honors, 1965).