Peter Schechter (born 1959) is an American political consultant and the executive producer and host of Altamar, a foreign policy podcast. Until June 2017, he was the

Atlantic Council The Atlantic Council is an American think tank in the field of international affairs, favoring Atlanticism, founded in 1961. It manages sixteen regional centers and functional programs related to international security and global economic prosp ...

's Senior Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and the founding director of the Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center, a Washington-based think tank launched in October 2013 to study the trends transforming

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

. Born in 1959 in Rome, Schechter first came to the US when he was 16, then spent several years in Bolivia and Venezuela before returning to the US to settle in Washington. He has a Master's from the

Johns Hopkins Johns Hopkins (May 19, 1795 – December 24, 1873) was an American merchant, investor, and philanthropist. Born on a plantation, he left his home to start a career at the age of 17, and settled in Baltimore, Maryland, where he remained for mos ...

’

Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies The School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) is a graduate school of Johns Hopkins University based in Washington, D.C. The school also maintains campuses in Bologna, Italy and Nanjing, China. The school is devoted to the study of int ...

. He is fluent in six languages.

Biography

Schechter spent a significant portion of his professional career providing guidance to political candidates in Latin America, such as

Henrique Capriles Henrique Capriles Radonski (; born 11 July 1972) is a Venezuelan politician and lawyer, who served as the 36th Governor of Miranda (state), Miranda from 2008 to 2017. Born in Caracas, he received a degree in law from the Universidad Católica ...

from Venezuela, Alvaro Uribe from Colombia, and

Fernando Henrique Cardoso Fernando Henrique Cardoso (; born 18 June 1931), also known by his initials FHC (), is a Brazilian sociologist, professor, and politician who served as the 34th president of Brazil from 1 January 1995 to 1 January 2003. He was the first Brazi ...

from Brazil. From 1987 to 1992, Schechter worked as a

political consultant Political consulting is a form of consulting that consists primarily of advising and assisting political campaigns. Although the most important role of political consultants is arguably the development and production of mass media (largely televi ...

for a public relations firm, The Sawyer Miller Group, where he led their international division. In 1991, he and Bob Chlopak were credited with helping Barco Vargas of Columbia get elected. In 1993, he co-founded Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter and Associates, a Washington, DC–based

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...

company with partners Bob Chlopak and Charlie Leonard. According to Foreign Agents Registration filings with the

US Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of federal laws and the administration of justice. It is equ ...

, the firm received over $292,000 in 2009 to boost the image of the

interim government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, a transitional government or provisional leadership, is a temporary government formed to manage a period of transition, often following state collapse, revolut ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

in the US after the ousting of President

Manuel Zelaya José Manuel Zelaya Rosales (born 20 September 1952)Encyclopædia BritannicaManuel Zelaya is a Hondurans, Honduran politician who served as the 35th president of Honduras from 2006 until his forcible removal in the 2009 Honduran coup d'état, 2 ...

. The contract was signed by Schechter. The firm's lobbyists interacted with members of the

US Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

, including Senator Jim DeMint, who became a supporter the interim government, later expressing his support to the

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

and

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

. The

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following his victory over Republican nomine ...

stated that they saw the coup in Honduras as a dangerous development in the region. Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter and Associates received negative publicity in the US and Honduras for their involvement and a protest was held outside of their Washington DC office. In 2013, The Atlantic council launched it’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center. Peter Schechter was chosen to be their founding director due to his experience in the region. He also served as the Atlantic Council’s Senior Vice President for Strategic Initiatives until June 2017. Schechter is an adjunct professor at

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...

in DC and a visiting professor at Ben Gurion University’s Faculty of Business and Management. He also serves on BGU's Board of Directors He was on the board for Jose’ Andres's ThinkFoodGroup, which includes more than 30 restaurants across the US Schechter opened his own restaurant, Immigrant Food, with Ezequiel Vazquez-Ger in 2019. The restaurant is located a block away from the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

in Washington DC. Immigrant food hosts virtual events and produces a monthly digital publication called "The Think Tank," which focuses on complex

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...

issues. Schechter is also an author. He published his first novel, Point of Entry, in 2006. which received accolades from

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

The Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN radio and WGN tel ...

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

, and

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

. He published his second novel, Pipeline, in 2009.

References

External links

Altamar's official website

Peter Schechter's page at HarperCollins
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schechter, Peter 1959 births Living people American thriller writers Jewish American novelists American political consultants Communications consultants 20th-century Italian Jews American male novelists Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies alumni Atlantic Council Italian emigrants to the United States 21st-century American Jews