Peter Schechter, born 1959, is an international strategic communications consultant and author.
Schechter is founding partner of Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter & Associates,[1] a Washington, DC-based company which advises politicians, companies, non-profits and international organizations. He created the public relations firm in 1992 with colleagues Bob Chlopak and Charlie Leonard after a decade on Capitol Hill and with the Sawyer Miller Group, a New York consulting firm.
Schechter has served as principal election advisor in nearly every country in Latin America, including work for President Álvaro Uribe (his fourth Presidential client in Colombia), President Fernando Henrique Cardoso in Brazil, and President Ernesto Zedillo in Mexico. His clients are wide-ranging, from wine-making regions like Champagne, Port and Sherry seeking protection from name infringements in the US to Hunt Oil’s Camisea project in Peru.
In September 2009, Schechter's firm signed a four-month contract with the interim Honduran government of Roberto Micheletti to provide public relations services following the June 28, 2009 coup d'état in this country.[2][3] According to Foreign Agents Registration filings with the US Department of Justice, the firm received over $292,000 to boost the interim regime's image in the US.[4] The contract put Schechter's firm in the spotlight and sparked letters of condemnation.[5] On October 19, 2009 a protest took place in front of the firm's Washington, DC office in response to its work on behalf of the interim Honduran government.[6]
Purportedly fluent in six languages, Schechter is a frequent political commentator for Univision and Telemundo, the nation’s two largest Spanish language television networks. Apart from his work, Schechter is also a Virginia goat farmer, a co-owner and board member with superstar chef Jose Andres of five successful Washington restaurants (including prize-winning Jaleo and Zaytinya), a co-proprietor of Agur Winery in Israel, and a critically acclaimed author.
Schechter published his first novel, Point of Entry, in 2006. The Washington Post called it “fast moving”,[7] The Chicago Tribune said it is “as good as this kind of writing gets.” The St. Louis Post Dispatch said the plot is “why-didn’t I think-of-that-clever.”.[8] Newsweek called it “a rip-roaring novel about terrorism, nuclear plots and presidential dating.” The Boston Globe declared it “entertaining.” His second book, Pipeline, was published in 2009.
Peter Schechter lives in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., with his Spanish wife Rosa and two daughters Alia and Marina.