Fraser P. Seitel

Infobox Person
name = Fraser P. Seitel


caption =
birth_date = birth date and age|1946|6|6
birth_place = Jersey City, New Jersey
death_date =
death_place =
occupation = Author, Public Relations Consultant

Fraser P. Seitel (born June 6, 1946) is a public relations consultant, author, teacher, lecturer, columnist and media commentator, appearing frequently on the Fox News Network and other outlets. In 2001, CNN’s Larry King called Seitel “the man who practically wrote the book on PR”.cite web |url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0108/21/lkl.00.html |title=CNN Transcript: Larry King Live |date=2001-08-21 |first=Larry |last=King |accessdate=2008-07-26]

The 10th edition of Seitel’s book, The Practice of Public Relations, was published by Prentice-Hall/Pearson in 2006. The Practice of Public Relations is used in 200 U.S. colleges and universities as well as colleges in other countries. The book’s Foreword was written by prominent banker and philanthropist David Rockefeller, with whom Seitel has worked for three decades, serving as public relations director of The Chase Manhattan Bank in the 1970s, when Rockefeller was the bank’s CEO.

In his writings and comments, Seitel is an outspoken defender of and advocate for the practice of public relations as an an “honest broker” -- between management and its publics. As he told National Public Radio’s “On the Media” in 2007, “The cardinal rule of public relations is to never lie.” cite web |url=http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2007/07/20/02 |title=On The Media: Transcript of "Worst...P.R....Ever" (July 20, 2007) |date=2007-07-20 |first=Fraser |last=Seitel |accessdate=2008-07-26]

Seitel is president of Emerald Partners, a communications management firm that he and associates founded in 1992. He is also a columnist for odwerpr.com and author of numerous books on public relations.

Early Life and education

Seitel was born in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1946, the son of Helen (nee Barmad), a former school teacher, and Robert Seitel, an entrepreneur who began his own air freight forwarding company.

Seitel attended the University of Missouri in Columbia, where he majored in journalism, served as the advertising manager of the school newspaper, The Maneater, and was a sports writer for the local newspaper, The Columbia Tribune. He graduated in 1968 and went to graduate school at the University of North Dakota, where he served as a graduate instructor in speech-communications and as an associate in the university relations office. He received an MA degree in speech-communications from North Dakota in 1970. In 1977, while working at The Chase Manhattan Bank, Seitel received an MBA degree in marketing from New York University.

Career

Seitel began his career in 1970 at The Chase Manhattan Bank, as the editor of the monthly internal newspaper. Chase Chairman and CEO was David Rockefeller, with whom Seitel would build a nearly 40-year association as a friend, colleague, and client.

Over the course of 22 years at Chase (interrupted by two years as an executive at Hill & Knowlton public relations firm), Seitel rose to senior vice president and director of public affairs, responsible for the bank’s media relations, philanthropy, annual report, speech writing and editorial services. He served as an advisor to three successive Chase CEOs, David Rockefeller, Willard C. Butcher and Thomas G. Labrecque.

In 1979, Seitel handled relations with the media, surrounding David Rockefeller’s lead role in assisting entry to the U.S. of the Shah of Iran, exiled from his country and suffering from cancer. Rockefeller’s role was controversial in that President Jimmy Carter and the U.S. government never offered the Shah asylum and preferred that he leave the country.

Post-Chase Career

After leaving Chase in 1992, Seitel formed his own public relations consultancy, Emerald Partners. He also became an of-counsel senior advisor to Burson-Marsteller, at the time the world’s largest public relations agency.

In addition to his affiliation with Burson, Seitel became a partner with his longtime friend Andy Edson in Andrew Edson & Associates public relations and investor relations counsel and a partner with another longtime friend and his college roommate Steve Rivkin in Rivkin & Associates strategic marketing and communications counsel. In 2002, Rivkin and Seitel co-authored the book "IdeaWise; How to Tranform Your Ideas" published by John Wiley.

As a public relations consultant, Seitel has advised hundreds of companies, non-profits, trade associations, and individuals. Together with Rivkin, Seitel has counseled hospital CEOs throughout the U.S., particularly in dealing with crisis.cite web |url=http://www.hospitalcrisis.net/principals.htm |title=HospitalCrisis.net |date=2008 |first=Fraser |last=Seitel |accessdate=2008-07-26]

In July 2006, Seitel was retained by Philip Marshall, the grandson of New York society heiress Brooke Astor, in the high profile family feud that pitted the grandson against his father, Anthony Marshall over the treatment of the 104-year-old grande dame. For months, New York City tabloids reported charges and counter-charges of “elder abuse” in the Astor case. Throughout the saga, Seitel represented Philip and his principal supporters and his grand mother’s longtime friends, David Rockefeller and Annette de la Renta, wife of designer Oscar de la Renta. In August, Annette de la Renta was named Mrs. Astor’s temporary guardian, and in November, Anthony Marshall and his lawyer were indicted on 16 counts relating to the handling of his mother’s will and financial affairs. In August 2006, The New York Observer wrote Seitel’s role in the case, “Young Philip Marshall has, in his seeming silence, maintained a semblance of the family dignity both by not grandstanding outside the family manse and by using the reserved Mr. Seitel. Mr. Seitel never appears to be playing to the cheap seats--he manages publicity without much in the way of fingerprints.”cite web |url=http://www.observer.com/node/39220 |title=The Transom |date=2006-08-06 |first=Jonathan |last=Liu |accessdate=2008-07-26] Since 2003, Seitel has served as a bimonthly columnist on public relations for odwyerpr.com and O’Dwyer’s PR Services report. He also has served as a contributor to Tech Central Station, predecessor of TCS Daily . Seitel is a former founding editor of The Strategist, monthly publication of the Public Relations Society of America. He is also a former columnist for U.S. Banker magazine.

Since 2006, Seitel has served as an assistant adjunct professor in the New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies, instructing M.S. candidates in the Theory, History and Practice of Public Relations. He has also served as an adjunct professor at Florida International University.

Seitel is a frequent lecturer and seminar leader on communications topics and a regular guest on television and radio. In addition to his appearances on a variety of programs on the Fox News Network, Seitel has appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” CNBC’s “Power Lunch,” CNN’s “Larry King Live,” as well as on MSNBC, Fox Business Network, the Fox Radio Network and National Public Radio (NPR). In 2007, Brooke Gladstone, host of “On the Media,” said, “Fraser Seitel has written the book on PR – literally.” cite web |url=http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2007/07/20/02 |title=On The Media: Transcript of "Worst...P.R....Ever" (July 20, 2007) |date=2007-07-20 |first=Fraser |last=Seitel |accessdate=2008-07-26]

Bibliography

* cite book
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title = The Practice of Public Relations
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* cite book
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title = IdeaWise: How to Transform Your Ideas
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References

External links

* [http://books.google.com/books?as_auth=Fraser+P+Seitel/ Google Books] - List of Fraser Seitel books at Google Books
* [http://www.odwyerpr.com/ odwyerpr.com] - Where Fraser Seitel is a contributor