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.
