Carl Spielvogel

Carl Spielvogel (December 27, 1928 – April 21, 2021) was an American marketing executive and diplomat.

He co-founded the advertising firm of Backer and Spielvogel (with Bill Backer), where he served as Chairman and CEO.

Spielvogel has conducted trade and commerce in 45 countries during a 40-year career.

He was the chairman and CEO of Carl Spielvogel Associates, Inc., an international investment, management and marketing company.

Spielvogel's talents in the marketing industry were instrumental in helping to recover Israel's public image after the Lebanon War.

Later in life he would refer to his efforts as developing into a personal cause célèbre.

Spielvogel was born to a Jewish family in New York City on December 27, 1928, the son of Sadie (Tellerman) and Joseph Spielvogel.

He received a B.B.A. degree from Baruch College of the City University of New York.

He began his working career in 1950 as a copy boy in the news department, he then became a reporter, and eventually a six-times-a-week columnist for The New York Times, until 1960.

In his youth, Spielvogel was a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, and an infantry soldier in the U.S. Army from 1953-55.

In the years of 1960-1972 he was a McCann Erickson eventually EVP and General Manager.

Before joining Interpublic's parent company in 1972, he was chairman of the executive committee and executive vice president and general manager of McCann-Erickson, Inc., Interpublic's largest subsidiary.

Until 1980, Spielvogel was vice chairman, and a member of the executive committee and the board of directors of the Interpublic Group, with which he was associated for twenty years, one of the world's largest communications marketing companies.

In 1980, Spielvogel became Founder/Chairman and CEO of Backer & Spielvogel, which became Backer Spielvogel Bates Worldwide, Inc., one of the world's largest marketing and advertising communications companies.

This worldwide corporation had 178 companies in 55 countries, and employed 8,500 persons—1,000 Americans and 7,500 nationals of the countries in which business was being conducted.

In response, the American Jewish Congress sponsored a conference in Jerusalem in 1983, chaired by Carl Spielvogel, to explore ways of improving Israel's tarnished image abroad.

The conference brought together top public relations and advertising executives from the United States, along with journalists and academics from both countries.

The discussions focused on devising a strategy to "sell" post-Lebanon Israel to the U.S. media, emphasizing Israel's strategic importance to the United States, its affinity with Western cultural values, its physical vulnerability, and its desire for peace.

The conference also addressed the challenging issue of West Bank settlements, highlighting the need for a sophisticated PR campaign to present a balanced and positive image of Israel to the world.

In 1984, building on the momentum from the previous year's conference, the American Jewish Congress organized a dinner event that successfully raised $200,000 to enhance the public relations skills of Israeli government spokespersons.

This initiative was part of a broader effort to improve Israel's image and communication strategy on the global stage.

From October 1994 until April 1997, Spielvogel was chairman and chief executive officer of the United Auto Group, Inc., then the nation's largest publicly owned auto dealership group, and one of the first automobile dealership groups to go public on the New York Stock Exchange, with sales approximating $4 billion.

In 1994 he became a member of the Board of Bates Worldwide Chairman.

He was appointed to the Broadcasting Board of Governors's first board in 1995 by President Bill Clinton.

In 1995, he was appointed by President Bill Clinton, and approved by the U.S. Senate, to the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors, which is responsible for Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, Voice of Asia, Radio Marti, Worldnet, and the other non-military "Voices" of the United States Government.

In 1997, he was named chairman of the International Advisory Board of the Financial Times, the leading global and financial newspaper.

He was also chairman of the board of advisors of the Intermedia Advertising Group, Inc., a research and technology company.

In 1998, he was appointed a Fellow at the Center for Business and Government, at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

He was a member of the Columbia University Institute for the Study of Europe, and a board member of the Weissman Institute of International Studies at Baruch College.

In 1999 he was appointed by President Clinton as Ambassador to the Slovak Republic.

At the time, Senator Charles Grassley put a hold on several ambassadorial appointments, including those of Spielvogel and Richard Holbrooke.

In 2000 he became the United States Ambassador to Slovakia, nominated as a recess appointment.

He presented his credentials on September 7, 2000, and served in that post until April 15, 2001.

He was a member of the Council of American Ambassadors, and the Council on Foreign Relations.

He also served as chairman of the United Auto Group and was elected to the board of many companies.

This hold lasted for 16 months until August 2000 when President Clinton named him to the post as a recess appointment.

He served as Ambassador until April 2001.

For his outstanding service to Slovakia, President Rudolf Schuster presented him with the Presidential Medal of Honor of Slovakia.

In 2008, he was appointed to the board of trustees of the State University of N.Y. (SUNY), the largest state university system in the U.S., comprising 65 college campuses, with approximately 480,000 students.

The need for a more robust Israeli public relations campaign, termed "Hasbara" in Hebrew, became evident following the Lebanon war.