SME and Kirk Harrington have joined forces in the creation of a new company division named SME Government Affairs (SMEGA). As Managing Partner of SMEGA, Kirk and the team will provide branding, advertising, marketing, digital and social media services to various branches of the Department of Defense, Local, State and Federal agencies and US Government contractors.
Kirk Harrington is a decorated Army veteran with over two decades of experience in public affairs. He was a an early member of the elite Joint Task Force-SIX, a counter-drug and terrorism task force based in El Paso, Texas. He has also been an integral component within the Special Operations Command (SOCOM) community, having served abroad during overseas contingency operations. Mr. Harrington's background includes lecturing on Middle Eastern affairs at the US Military Academy, West Point and is a founding member of Emerging Foreign Market Collaboration, LLC, a knowledge transfer company based in Dubai. Mr. Harrington has a philanthropic side as well serving as the President and founding member of the Purple Heart Injury Lab (PHIL), a charitable organization set up to deal with the thousands of returning service-members who suffer from Traumatic Brain Injuries. Prior to joining the SME family, Mr. Harrington served as Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff for Government Affairs at Oxygen Biotherapeutics Inc., (NASDAQ:OXBT), a bio-pharmaceutical company located in Raleigh, North Carolina. In 2006, he was appointed by the United States Department of State as a senior adviser and diplomat to the Government of Iraq. As the sole diplomat to the Iraqi Ministries of Transportation and Construction and Housing, he oversaw every facet for implementation of new infrastructure. He held senior positions at the consulting firm Bearing Point, LLC and the investment bank Bear, Stearns & Company. Prior he was a SVP at both Rubenstein PR and Robinson, Lerer & Montgomery, a WPP-owned crisis communications firm located in New York City. Mr. Harrington is a Distinguished Military Graduate of the University of South Dakota where he was a NCAA All-American in the Decathlon.