Merrie Spaeth

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. After the FBI, she served two years at the Federal Trade Commission as director of public affairs, and in 1984, 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. Spaeth has 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 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.