Why elevation?
Who is Elevation?
The Olympics. 1984.
Live Aid. 1985.
Nelson Mandela. 1988.
When you reach the
right audience, with the
right message, at the
right moment,
people change.
When you reach enough
people, governments
change.
***
ELEVATION exists to showcase the powerful ecosystem of people, companies, and organizations building a more connected, capable, and purpose-driven world through global sport & culture.
From Formula 1 to the Olympics, World Cup to Wimbledon, we see these moments as more than just entertainment and hospitality. They are strategic platforms that convene leaders at the intersection of elite technology, global partnerships, and geopolitical influence.
These leaders and their efforts are undervalued and under-represented in today’s media and our key strategic dialogues on global competition.
Kevin Baron founded Elevation to bring their stories to light for new audiences, new partners, and new stages — thoughtfully, responsibly, and effectively.
Because global sport and culture has changed the world.
ELEVATION is inspired by the legacy of impactful moments in history that bring the world together — from every Olympics and FIFA World Cup to concerts like Amnesty’s Human Rights Now!, Nelson Mandela tributes, and 46664.
Their legacy demonstrates how mass audiences, when captivated and motivated, can move people, ideas, and resources toward a better world. That dynamic exists today more than ever.
Today’s community of athletes, artists, performers, chefs, and the innovative executives, organizations, and governments that sponsor and support them illustrate the kind of world in which we want to live: connected, collaborative, and competitive.
Their stories are all around us.
If you know where to look.
And we do.
Tell your story.
Elite technology and AI leaders across many sectors are also major partners in global sports, from Formula 1 to the Olympics, and for good reason. They are testbeds for advanced capabilities and international collaborations.
Teams, leagues, and sponsors are embedding purpose-driven activities like climate-conscious sustainability into the core of their identities and operations.
Chefs and farmers are modernizing food systems for greater resilience, global security, and human performance.
Diversity and inclusivity are increasingly visible and valued, from boardrooms to ballfields.
Altogether, these efforts illustrate we are living in a world that is more connected than we often acknowledge — one which deserves to be seen, understood, and advanced.
That’s worth elevating.
Kevin Baron
Founder & President
Elevation Global Strategies
Kevin Baron is an international journalist, analyst, media executive, and live events creator with more than 25 years based in Washington, D.C. He has covered global security, defense, intelligence, foreign policy, politics, and more as a reporter, editor, and executive editor, and via live journalism on-stage and on-camera. His work often focuses on the intersection of global affairs, public opinion, and culture.
For 10 years, Baron was the founding executive editor of Defense One, the news brand of Atlantic Media and GovExec. While leading the newsroom, he created and hosted dozens of live events, including the Defense One Summit, Tech Summit, and the State of Defense virtual interview series with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, among others.
Baron is a frequent moderator at major global policy conferences, including the Aspen Security Forum (Aspen and London), Brussels Forum (Belgium), Global Security Forum (Doha, Qatar), Halifax International Security Forum (Canada), NATO Engages (Belgium and Washington), and Raisina Dialogue (New Delhi, India). He co-hosted the GLOBSEC Bratislava Forum (Slovakia) and partnered with London’s IISS and the Shangri-La Dialogue (Singapore.)
Recently, Baron was editorial director of POLITICO Live, leading editorial events with the executive, business, and production teams, while coordinating newsroom coverage.
During the 2023-24 presidential election cycle, Baron helped plan and hosted six policy summits and a dozen single-issue events on topics from AI and healthcare to sustainability, as well as the four-day CNN-POLITICO Grills at the 2024 Republican and Democratic National Conventions.
Baron first arrived in Washington in 1998, working for the Coalition for American Leadership Abroad; the United Nations Association-USA; and then the Alliance for International Educational & Cultural Exchange. He focused on U.S. politics and foreign affairs, congressional spending, international organizations, global development, and related issues including global HIV/AIDS, education, and immigration.
In 2003, seeking to have a greater impact, Baron shifted into journalism. His first experience was on the Polk Award-winning team at the Center for Public Integrity exposing $7 billion of Iraq War contracts. From 2004 to 2009, he led investigative projects for the Boston Globe’s Washington bureau, traveling on assignment from the South Pacific to Sub-Saharan Africa, documenting the hunt for missing World War II pilots, the rise of faith-based foreign aid, partisan rule-making in Congress, military recruiting, and global online test cheating.
In 2008, Baron joined the Pentagon press corps, reporting for 15 years from war zones to world capitals for Stars and Stripes, National Journal, Foreign Policy, and Defense One. He also was founding VP of the Pentagon Press Association.
On air, Baron has been a reporting analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, and frequently appears on MS Now. He also has appeared on CNN, BBC, BBC World Service, CNBC International, PBS, NPR, Yahoo, Sky Arabia, al-Jazeera, al-Arabiya, Asharq, ABC Radio Australia, and Canada’s Global News.
Baron earned his M.A. in media and public affairs from the George Washington University, and B.A, in international studies from the University of Richmond. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Raised in Florida, Baron lives in Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., with his partner, Sharon Stirling, and three sons.
Sharad Kharé
Sharad Kharé is an award-winning storyteller and documentarian. He is the founder Human Biography, a content agency that produces original video content for the most incredible humans, brands, and organizations around the globe. His signature work is in intimate thought-provoking interviews. Sharad also creates content with some of the most dynamic organizations in the world to engage audiences, and moderates dialogues on global stages.
Sharad has documented people like Oprah Winfrey, his holiness the Dalai Lama, Meryl Streep, Arianna Huffington, Chip Wilson, Susan Sarandon, Val Kilmer, Indra Nooyi, Helen Mirren, Jack and Suzy Welch, Peter Diamandis, Maye Musk, Jacqueline Novogratz, and Katy Perry as well as many leaders and CEOs from all over the world. Sharad’s work with family legacy has enabled some incredible opportunities for families to work on their own private content for generational information to be passed down. Human Biography has created content with such organizations as TED, Microsoft, UN Women, The David Lynch Foundation, and many more.
Sharad has led lectures in storytelling at Harvard, IIT, Parsons, UPenn, and the United Nations. He currently sits on the board of Beedie Luminaries and Reconciliation Canada. Sharad has a master’s degree in communications and background in media and journalism.