About Us:
Honing the uniqueness of the Finnish cultural term Sisu -- strength, persistent determination, and commitment to overcome adversity -- our experienced public affairs team is driven to help clients elevate their voices and brands, change public perception, and achieve their business, legislative, and political objectives.
Meet the Sisu Team
Nicole Tardif
Founder & President
Nicole Tardif is a seasoned public affairs, strategic communications, marketing, and political professional. Proud of her strong Finnish roots and fortunate enough to be living out her own American dream, Nicole now serves as President of Sisu Public Affairs.
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Following her time at a small political consulting firm, Nicole was determined to follow the many, strong female leaders, mentors, and loved ones in her life who taught her strength and embodied sisu -- leading to the formation of Sisu Public Affairs.
Following a short hiatus leading public relations for her favorite non-profit The American Legion and leading a marketing and communications department for a trade association, Nicole is proudly relaunching her dream with a revitalized, re-energized, and strong team with Sisu Public Affairs.
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Prior to Sisu's initial opening, Nicole held roles in senior leadership, direct mail, paid media production and placement, marketing, public affairs, and political consulting.
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Additionally, Nicole spent nearly four years with Stand Together Communications commonly referred to as the "Koch Network," where she served as Director of Communications and oversaw a variety of capabilities to include: regional communications, paid media and marketing, political communications, state and federal grassroots lobbying initiatives, rapid response and research, ballot measures, and brand strategy for a well-known political force.
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Following the landmark Crossroads Supreme Court case during the 2018 midterm cycle, Nicole helped launch the super PAC Americans for Prosperity Action. Serving as Communications Director and Spokesperson, Tardif drove branding, strategy, messaging, and placement and production of paid media tactics for independent expenditures in 300+ races during the 2020 election cycle alone. This entailed dropping more than 80 million pieces of direct mail for IEs and a variety of advertisements across digital, broadcast, cable, radio, and connected TV platforms.
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Tardif has also served as a spokesperson and Deputy Press Secretary at the Republican National Committee; worked on a variety of campaigns and a party caucus with roles in fundraising, field, data, strategy, and more; served constituents of two districts in the U.S. House of Representatives in administrative and policy capacities for now retired Congressman Barbara Comstock (VA-10) and Congressman Mike Gallagher (WI-08); and delved into state policy and constituent services within the Virginia General Assembly.
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A proud Finnish-American and Northern Virginia native, Nicole graduated from the University of Mary Washington with a Bachelors in Political Science and minor in Business Administration, leading to her continued studies at American University's School of Public Affairs' where she received a post-graduate certificate from the Women & Politics Institute's WeLead Program. Nicole is passionate about reinvesting in the next generation of female leaders, as she was attributes much of her success to. Thus, Nicole is an active mentor in several D.C. based internship programs and is a strong, vocal advocate for The American Legion and The American Legion Auxiliary's youth programs, such as Girls State and Boys State as a proud progam participant and former counselor.
which helped build her career have by mentoring within a variety of internship programs.
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Today, Nicole resides in Virginia surrounded by family and prioritizes her incredible son and German Shepherd, Gunther.
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Michael Ambrose
Vice President & Managing Partner
Michael "Mike" Ambrose is a battle tested public affairs professional with years of experience in public policy, the hospitality industry, and within the trade association space. Mike specializes in direct and grassroots lobbying, relationship and coalition building, strategic communications, public policy advocacy, and ballot initiative campaigns.
A Chicago native and graduate of the College of William & Mary, Mike started his career in government affairs with Home Depot and the Personal Care Products Council which represents the best interests of key cosmetic conglomerates. These roles led to Mike' next career phase within the U.S. House of Representatives.
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During his time on Capitol Hill, Mike served the constituents of Virginia's 6th Congressional District under Congressman Bob Goodlatte's leadership. During his tenure working in Congress, Mike worked closely with the Judiciary Committee of which Rep. Goodlatte chaired. This experience provided Mike extensive opportunities to work on pivotal issues Americans continue to face -- ranging from immigration and gun rights, to agriculture, bankruptcy law, intricate regulatory provisions in technology, and more.
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Following nearly five years in Congress, Mike joined the National Restaurant Association (NRA) in 2017 in a key role on the group's state and local public affairs team. With NRA, Mike worked with both
major multinational companies like McDonald's and Starbucks, as well as the state associations which represent America's mom & pop restaurants. Early into his tenure Mike immersed himself into the legislative landscapes of all 50 states and key localities of influence to ensure his fluency in their retrospective nuances and a greater chance of legislative victories for restauranters.
Mike's hard work and dedication to the success of NRA's members led to his promotion in 2019, where he took on the role of liaison to all east coast and Midwest state associations. In his elevated position, Mike's responsibilities expanded to include relationship curation, development, and management across east coast and Midwest state associations where he engrained himself into greater sales strategies, support external communications efforts, support membership teams' growth avenues, and ensure an outsized influence in government affairs. Most importantly, Mike thrived in bringing together competitor companies to achieve a common mission, and to cement the voice and influence of the industry for years to come.
During his time at the Restaurant Association, Mike engaged on hot button issues of heightened relevance today, such as third-party delivery, data privacy, unionization efforts, employment law, and helped usher in the first changes to state alcohol laws since the end of prohibition. His greatest accomplishment was spearheading successful efforts to preserve the tip-credit system for servers and bartenders in over a dozen states and localities across the country. After helping the restaurant industry weather the storm that was COVID-19, Mike joined Safeway as the Senior Manager of Communications & Community Affairs for the Mid-Atlantic region. In that role he served as the primary point of contact for all media, government affairs, and philanthropic activity and advised senior executives regarding public affairs and crisis communications. Most recently, Mike served as Senior Director of Government Affairs at the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) which represents nearly 70% of hotel owners and operators in the country.
Throughout his career Mike has built a reputation as a dedicated, responsive, and good-natured advocate for the companies and causes he collaborates with and he cherishes the opportunity to put his skillsets to use alongside Sisu's clients.
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Chris McCoy
Principle
Chris McCoy is a seasoned strategist with over two decades of experience in political, issue advocacy, grassroots, fundraising, and marketing campaigns. Beginning his political career in the field, Chris volunteered with campaigns – large and small – while completing his undergraduate degree at Boston University and parlayed his dedication to voter contact volunteerism into full-time campaign staff positions.
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Following graduation from BU, Chris returned home to North Carolina where he entered the world of finance as a licensed stockbroker and financial planner. For several years in the world of finance, Chris led his junior broker colleagues in both sales and client retention. However, his desire to return to the political arena took center stage and he left the finance field to return to full-time political, government affairs, and non-profit consulting.
Melding his experience in finance and passion for politics, Chris was able to develop and implement effective fundraising strategies for a wide array of clients alongside his general political consulting services. Additionally, Chris has worked with candidates up and down the ballot – from county school board to U.S. Senate – and has worked in every capacity of a campaign apparatus. Because of these experiences, Chris acutely understands the critical nature every role of a campaign team has to the overall success of a campaign.
Prior to co-launching Sisu Public Affairs, Chris spent six years as State Director of Americans for Prosperity-North Carolina (AFP-NC); one of largest grassroots political groups in the country and a key entity within the Koch Network. In addition to leading AFP in North Carolina, Chris also served a brand lead for the North Carolina chapters of Concerned Veterans for America and The LIBRE Initiative.
During his time at the helm of AFP-NC; Chris strategized and implemented government affairs, issue advocacy, and grassroots lobbying efforts resulting in some of the most transformational policy efforts in the country. Additionally, Chris directed and executed over 50 political engagements with tens of millions of dollars invested in electoral efforts to support candidates on behalf of AFP and super PAC, AFP Action – with a significant record of success.
Outside of these experiences and his role with Sisu, Chris serves on the board of several nonprofits, has served as a development officer for multiple non-profit entities, and previously taught curriculum regarding fundraising and campaign strategy with the NC Institute of Political Leadership.
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When Chris isn’t in Knoxville cheering on the Volunteers, Chris lives near Charlotte, North Carolina with his wife, three children, and grumpy Bluetick Hound.
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