Topics: International Speakers Bureau, Inc. |
 Fee Range: $5,001 to $10,000 (fee note) |
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 Biography: Merrie Spaeth has a unique background in media, government, politics, business and the entertainment industry. She is a pioneer in communication theory and executive training, and is acknowledged as one of the pre-eminent crisis management strategists in the country. Merrie founded Dallas-based Spaeth Communications, Inc. in 1987. The Firm provides communication training and consulting for a wide range of companies and institutions. She is also the founder and president of the Institute for Strategic Communications, a not-for-profit foundation devoted to studying and reporting on business communication issues. Merrie served as a White House Fellow and was assigned to FBI Director William Webster. She was the first Fellow and one of the first two women on the director's staff. From the FBI, she served two years at the Federal Trade Commission as director of public affairs, and in 1983, President Ronald Reagan named her director of media relations at the White House. Merrie introduced satellite communications to the White House, and the electronic White House News Service. One newspaper headline said she "took the White House into the Space Age". She has worked in every area of print and electronic media. She's been a radio and television talk show host, a reporter and writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer and the New York Daily News, and a producer for ABC's 20/20. Family Weekly (later USA Today Sunday Magazine) for several years featured her weekly column on personal finance and investing called "Your Finances". Her first book Marketplace Communication (MasterMedia) is a collection of her commentaries on Marketplace, the daily business show on public radio stations across the country. Today, she writes a weekly column for UPI on communication challenges facing businesses, and she is a regular commentator on public radio and television. In the entertainment field, Merrie's best-known work is "The World of Henry Orient" with Peter Sellers and Angela Lansbury. As a teenager, she appeared as a guest actress in several series. She later became a speechwriter for the legendary William S. Paley, chairman of CBS, Inc. Other honors include the Young Poet of New York, 1971; Glamour Magazine's 10 Outstanding Working Women of America, 1983; and the National Council of Women's Citation of Accomplishment, 1980. A cum laude graduate of Smith College, she is a graduate of Columbia Business School and was awarded the school's Overall Achievement Award. She has lectured in the Global Executives program at the Wharton School, the graduate school of business for the University of Pennsylvania, and is an Adjunct Professor at the Business Leadership Center in the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University. She also regularly lectures to participants of the business executive program at the University of Birmingham, England. Board memberships include Pose Tech, which seeks to teach the world to run without injuries. Charitable board memberships include the National Children's Eye Care Foundation and the Law Enforcement Television Network (LETN). Her firm commits between 5 and 10 percent of its time each year to pro bono training for civic and charitable organizations. Merrie and her two children live in Dallas, TX. |
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