Shelley Spector

Shelley Spector, president and co-founder, has produced award-winning corporate leadership programs for some of America’s most successful corporations, such as AT&T, Bayer, Philips Consumer Electronics and Forest Laboratories.

Prior to co-founding Spector and Associates in 1991, Shelley held leadership positions at Hill & Knowlton and Ruder Finn. She also served as the press relations director for the American Stock Exchange during the early 1980s.

Shelley’s programs have won more than 40 awards, including PRSA’s Silver Anvil, IABC’s Gold Quill and the Holmes Report’s SABRE. She was also given the title of "Creative All-star" by Inside PR magazine.

Following the events of 9/11, Shelley was instrumental in the recovery of Downtown Manhattan, creating the Downtown Business Network, an advocacy group for small businesses in the Financial District.

It was during this time that Shelley also developed a text message-based early notification system called Wireless Warning, which uses the SMS band to transmit alerts within a defined area during emergencies.

In 2001, Shelley was also appointed to the U.S. Air Force’s Media Advisory Council, working with the Air Force Office of Public Affairs to create a national image-building campaign for the service.

Shelley is deeply involved in the public relations community. In 1997, she created the world’s first archive of public relations artifacts: The Museum of Public Relations, dedicated to the memory of her long-time friend and mentor, Edward L. Bernays. She is also serves as an adjunct professor of public relations at New York University’s School of Continuing/Professional Studies.

Shelley received a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Rhode Island and an M.S. in TV/Radio from the Newhouse School at Syracuse.