Merrie Spaeth

Merrie Spaeth has a unique background in media, government, politics, and business. In 1987, she founded Spaeth Communications, Inc., a Dallas-based firm providing communication training and consulting for a wide range of companies and institutions. The firm specializes in teaching executives how to use communication as a strategic business tool. Ms. Spaeth frequently writes and lectures to business groups on communication. She began her government experience as a White House Fellow, serving as Special Assistant to William Webster, Director of the F.B.I., and in 1984 she was appointed Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan and Director of Media Relations at the White House where she pioneered the use of satellite communications and started the electronic White House News Service. She has worked in every area of the media and is currently a commentator on business communication for "Marketplace" on public radio stations across the country. She wrote "Your Finances," a weekly column on personal finance and investing for USA Today Sunday Magazine. During the last two decades, she has worked for the Philadelphia Inquirer, the New York Daily News, Family Weekly, and many other magazines and papers, and she is the author of Marketplace Communication (MasterMedia). Merrie is a former talk show host and a reporter in both radio and television as well as a producer for ABC's "20/20." As a noted speech writer, Merrie has written opinion articles and speeches for many business leaders including the late William S. Paley, the founder and chairman of CBS, Inc. A cum laude graduate of Smith College, she holds a masters degree from Columbia Business School and was awarded the school's Overall Achievement Award. She is an instructor for the Business Leadership Center in the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University. Honors include Glamour Magazine's 10 Outstanding Working Women of America, the National Council of Women's Citation of Accomplishment, as well as the Young Poet of New York and "Filmdom's Famous Five" which dates to the 1960s when Ms. Spaeth was an actress in television and film beginning with The World of Henry Orient (1964) with Peter Sellers and Angela Lansbury. Merrie is the founder and president of the Institute for Strategic Communications, a not-for-profit foundation devoted to studying and reporting on business communication issues. She is active in many local and national civic and charitable organizations, and her firm has been recognized for its extensive pro bono contributions to nonprofit institutions.