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 or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

. Born in 1959 in Rome, Schechter was raised in Italy, Bolivia, and Venezuela. 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 most ...

’

Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) is a graduate school of Johns Hopkins University based in Washington, D.C., United States, with campuses in Bologna, Italy, and Nanjing, China. It is consistently ranked one of the ...

. He is fluent in six languages: English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French, and German.

Biography

From 1987 to 1992, Schechter worked as a political consultant for the Sawyer Miller Group. In 1993, he became a founding partner of Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter and Associates, a Washington, DC-based public relations company. 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 United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

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

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

in the US.Contract filing for Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter and Associates, Inc.
Foreign Agent Registration Unit, 21 October 2009; retrieved November 2009. Schechter is an adjunct professor at

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

in DC and a visiting professor at

Ben Gurion University Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) ( he, אוניברסיטת בן-גוריון בנגב, ''Universitat Ben-Guriyon baNegev'') is a public research university in Beersheba, Israel. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has five campuses: the ...

’s Faculty of Business and Management. He also serves on BGU's Board of Governors. Schechter is also a goat farmer in Virginia, co-owner with chef

José Andrés José Ramón Andrés Puerta (born 13 July 1969) is a Spanish chef, and founder of World Central Kitchen (WCK), a non-profit devoted to providing meals in the wake of natural disasters. A Spanish-born and raised cook, he is often credited with br ...

of five successful Washington restaurants (including prize-winning Jaleo and Zaytinya), co-proprietor of Agur Winery in Israel, and an author. Schechter published his first novel, ''Point of Entry'', in 2006. ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' called it "fast moving". ''

The Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' said it is "as good as this kind of writing gets". The ''

St. Louis Post Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a major regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the ''Belleville News-Dem ...

'' said the plot is "why-didn't I think-of-that-clever." ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

'' called it "a rip-roaring novel about terrorism, nuclear plots and presidential dating." ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' declared it "entertaining". His second book, ''Pipeline'', was published 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 writers 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