Sanger Blackman Media Solutions

Our Team

Ellin Sanger
Partner, Sanger Blackman Media Solutions

The words that come to mind when describing Ellin Sanger are “chief facilitator.” Ellin, Partner of Sanger Blackman Media Solutions, is also Principal of Ellin Sanger Media Consulting and A List Guest Booking. She is a highly regarded media specialist with wide-ranging experience working in all aspects of the broadcasting, entertainment, news and public relations industries. Her extensive credits include ABC News’ 20/20 (where she was responsible for Barbara Walters’ exclusive news breaking interviews for 7 years), ABC’s Good Morning America (GMA) (where she was Senior Entertainment Producer for 10 years), The Joan Rivers Show, WABC-TV, WCBS-TV, Fox Television and CNBC to name few. She brings over twenty years of editorial instinct and booking successes to her role as client media outreach lead and is highly adept at booking, relationship management and story and project development. Complementing her impressive credentials is a comprehensive and diverse list of high-profile contacts within and outside the media industry and a reputation as an innovative and visionary leader with an ability to think outside the box transforming ideas into reality. Over the years, Ellin has brought her talents to bear in her work with top-tier reporters and anchors including Barbara Walters, Charlie Gibson, David Hartman, Joan Lunden, Stone Phillips, Lynn Sherr, John Stossel and the late Joel Siegel to name a few.

Prior to working in television, Ellin served as Muhammad Ali’s personal assistant, a position that made her GMA’s de facto head of boxing coverage. During her tenure at GMA, Ellin oversaw a number of special projects, including heading up the show’s Oscar, Grammy and Country Music Award coverage. She also created and developed GMA’s successful TV and movie reunion series, including the cast of “Gone With The Wind” and a Sonny & Cher reunion. During periods of crisis, Ellin shifted gears into hard news for the coverage of the explosion of the Challenger shuttle and the 1985 TWA hostage crisis in Beirut and was responsible for securing the first interviews with the hostages and the pilot, Captain John Testrake. Ellin recruited special talent to be a part of the “GMA Family” such as special music correspondent, the late Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees and special boxing correspondent, Ken Norton. Ellin put her stamp on legendary Hollywood GMA interviews such as: Marlon Brando, Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Robert Redford, Al Pacino, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Madonna and Whitney Houston to name a few.

While at ABC News 20/20 Ellin was responsible for securing Barbara Walters’ exclusive interviews such as: General Norman Schwarzkopf’s first interview after Operation Desert Storm, the Menendez brother’s exclusive TV interview, Desire Washington’s first interview after the Mike Tyson rape trial, Terry Waite’s first US TV interview after having been held hostage in Lebanon for 4 years and Arthur Ashe’s first interview after announcing he had AIDS. Ellin also oversaw 20/20’s coverage of the O J Simpson trial.

Ellin has been involved with a number of media campaigns and served as a special media consultant to The Carter Center (where she worked on their global health initiatives). Ellin was instrumental in media campaigns for NTM Info and Research (a nonprofit foundation for a debilitating lung disease) and Retirement Living Television’s “Prime Votes” with veteran news reporters Sam Donaldson and John Palmer. She was also involved with a media campaign for the LBJ Museum and Library showcasing Mark Updegrove, renowned presidential historian, author and director of the LBJ Library and Museum. She was media consultant for Holistic Holiday At Sea Cruise, handled media campaigns for film-maker Darryl Roberts’ documentary America the Beautiful II: The Thin Commandments, Reliant Energy’s “Innovation Ave”, The Hearing Health Foundation, DHL and a number of books: Master Your Debt by Jordan Goodman, A Complicated Man: The Life of Bill Clinton as Told by Those Who Know Him by Michael Takiff, Conversations With Great Teachers by Bill Smoot, Dig This Gig: Find Your Dream Job or Invent It by Laura Dodd, The Healing Hour by VC August, The China Fallacy: How the U.S. Can Benefit from China’s Rise and Avoid Another Cold War by Donald Gross, Congressman Lincoln: The Making of America’s Greatest President by Chris DeRose and Latino Boom II: Catch The Biggest Demographic Wave Since The Baby Boom by Chiqui Cartagena. Ellin also works in entertainment media, and has handled media for Merrill Osmond, lead singer for the world famous Osmonds.

Additionally, Ellin runs A List Guest Booking a division of Sanger Blackman Media Solutions specializing in booking guests/talent for TV, radio and special events. The depth of Ellin’s outreach to potential guests/talent is diverse and all-encompassing. She has the ability to shift gears from hard news to entertainment in a heartbeat and has cultivated years of relationships in a world of high profile guests and newsmakers.

Ellin attended Syracuse University, where she earned a BS while maintaining a double major in Drama and Communications (Newhouse School of Communications). She graduated magna cum laude.

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Keith Blackman
Partner, Sanger Blackman Media Solutions

Keith, Partner of Sanger Blackman Media Solutions and Principal of Blackman Media Solutions (BMS), has an extensive background in network television news and served as a director in the media practice at Burson-Marsteller Washington from 2005 to 2009.

Keith formed BMS in January 2010 and provides media counsel and media training for a wide range of clients including corporations, non-profits, authors and filmmakers. In the Spring of 2010 Keith led media outreach surrounding the DC premiere of Oliver Stone’s documentary South of the Border during the Silverdocs Film Festival and in 2012 handled media outreach for film-maker Darryl Roberts’ documentary America the Beautiful II: The Thin Commandments. Keith is an accomplished media trainer and has provided training for The American Public University System (APUS), GeoEye, Goodwill Industries, Reliant Energy, Raytheon and USAID. As a partner in Sanger Blackman Media Solutions, Keith also has handled media campaigns for Reliant Energy’s ”Innovation Avenue”, DHL, The Hearing Health Foundation and the books: Conversations With Great Teachers by Bill Smoot, Dig This Gig: Find Your Dream Job or Invent It by Laura Dodd, The China Fallacy: How the U.S. Can Benefit from China’s Rise and Avoid Another Cold War by Donald Gross and The Healing Hour by VC August.

While at Burson-Marsteller, Keith worked with a diverse range of clients providing communications and media counsel on domestic and international issues. In 2006 he handled crisis and media counsel for Duke University surrounding allegations that members of its lacrosse team were involved in an on-campus assault. From 2006 until 2009 he provided media counsel and training for Intel surrounding the Intel Science Talent Search (STS) and Intel Science Engineering Fair (ISEF). Keith also conducted numerous media training sessions with clients such as Reliant Energy, Drexel University and various politicians.

Keith spent more than nine years at NBC News Washington. During that time he served as a White House producer, responsible for logistics and planning for NBC’s coverage of presidential trips and events in the US and abroad. Keith regularly produced White House spots for NBC’s Nightly News working with correspondents David Gregory, Campbell Brown and Norah O’Donnell. Prior to assuming his White House duties Keith was Washington News Producer for the TODAY program overseeing the production of news spots out of Washington, D.C. Prior to that, he worked as a researcher for TODAY writing segment background packets for Matt Lauer and Katie Couric and booking guests.

Keith earned a BA in Communications from Stanford University and a JD from UCLA Law School. He is fluent in English and French and has limited fluency in Spanish. He was born in Sekondi, Ghana five minutes ahead of his identical twin brother Christopher.