Merrie Spaeth
- Actress
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 Deux copines... un séducteur (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.
