Peter Schechter
Peter Schechter is an international advisor with over twenty years of communications and political experience. He consults for clients on international political issues and reputational risks. He regularly writes and comments on international relations.
Fluent in six languages, Mr. Schechter works and teaches at the intersection of international business and politics. His specialty is reducing reputational risk in an increasingly adversarial political and communications environment. His clients’ diversity – ranging from renowned European wine regions seeking to protect their geographic origins, to a large credit card company, a major oil and gas company, a leading Latin American country, an African-American scholarship fund, a major Latin American investment group and one of the most important African countries – speaks to the success of his advice.
Due to his diverse cultural experience, he has led communications campaigns both inside and outside of the United States for international organizations such as the United Nations Foundation, the World Bank and the World Health Organization and has assisted countries such as Colombia, Ecuador, Kenya, Peru, and Portugal in business and tourism promotion programs.
Mr. Schechter’s has served as lead consultant on many elections worldwide, with particular political experience in polling, campaign management, advertising and press relations. Having worked in politics in nearly every single Latin American country, he keenly understands the US-Latin American dynamic.
He has also been retained, among others, by the governments of Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Nicaragua, and Serbia to advise on issues such as economic reform, land reform, environmental preservation efforts and the rights of indigenous peoples.
In 1992, Schechter founded Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter and Associates (CLS) with two partners. Within a few years it had become one of Washington’s premier strategic communications consulting firms. The CLS partnership continues to this day.
Beyond his leadership in CLS, Schechter is dynamic public speaker and a regular commentator/analyst on the principal US-based Spanish language networks, Univision and Telemundo.
Schechter is a Visiting Professor at Israel’s Ben Gurion University Faculty of Business and Management and at George Washington University’s Faculty of Communication. Together with super-chef José Andrés, he owns and is on the Board of Directors of a number of prominent Washington restaurants. He co-owns a winery and is one of Virginia’s oldest goat farmers. Peter has published two novels with Harper Collins: Point of Entry, in January 2006 and Pipeline in April of 2009.
A graduate of the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, he was previously deputy staff director for the House Subcommittee on International Development Institutions and Finance and worked at National Public Radio and the Inter-American Development Bank.
