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FRASER SEITEL
Mr. Seitel focuses on public relations strategy, crisis management, media and presentation training, and financial and investor relations. He has provided communications counsel to hospitals in more than a dozen states.

He has been a communications counselor, lecturer, TV commentator and teacher for 40 years, and is a prominent public relations author. He has also served as senior counselor for corporate and financial communications at Burson-Marsteller, among the world’s largest public relations agencies.

In August 2006, The New York Observer wrote of Mr. Seitel’s work in behalf of Brooke Astor’s grandson, who brought a lawsuit against his father, “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.”

In 2000, PR Week named Mr. Seitel “one of the 100 most distinguished public relations professionals of the century.” He is the author of The Practice of Public Relations, now in its 11th edition, the leading public relations textbook in the world, used by more than 300,000 students at 200 colleges and universities. He is also the co-author with Steve Rivkin of the book IdeaWise, published by John Wiley & Sons in 2002.

Mr. Seitel also serves as an Adjunct Professor at the New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies. In 2010, he was awarded the school’s Teaching Excellence Award.  He has also served as Visiting Professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Florida International University.

Mr. Seitel is a frequent television contributor. Among other programs, he has appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America, CBS’ The Early Show, Fox News Channel’s Studio B, America’s Newsroom, The O’Reilly Factor, Fox and Friends, Special Report with Brit Hume, At Large with Geraldo Rivera, Weekend Live with Tony Snow, On the Record with Greta Van Susteren, Your World with Neil Cavuto, and Live Desk with Martha MacCallum; MSNBC’s Scarborough Country, Rita Cosby: Live and Direct, The News with Brian Williams and Nachman; CNBC’s CNBC Reports and Wall Street Journal Report; CNN’s Headline News, Paula Zahn Now, Inside Politics with Judy Woodruff and Larry King Live;  and the syndicated The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet and Inside Edition.

Mr. Seitel was a communications manager with The Chase Manhattan Bank for two decades. As the bank's senior vice president and director of public affairs prior to his resignation in 1992, Mr. Seitel was responsible for Chase's financial communications, public relations and philanthropy. He personally counseled three generations of Chase chief executives – David Rockefeller, Willard Butcher and Thomas Labrecque.

Since leaving Chase and becoming a consultant, Mr. Seitel has provided communications counsel to hundreds of corporations, non-profits, trade associations and individuals.

STEVE RIVKIN
Mr. Rivkin founded Rivkin & Associates LLC, a marketing and communications consultancy, in 1989. He has a diverse background in public affairs, journalism, marketing, advertising, naming and identity.

Rivkin & Associates LLC has worked for more than 100 not-for-profit and for-profit hospitals in 22 states. Clients have ranged from 70-bed rural hospitals to 2,000-bed, multi-hospital urban systems.

The son of a pharmacist, Steve Rivkin was born into a medical family that includes half a dozen physicians. He is the Senior Fellow in Health Communications & Marketing Strategy of the Estes Park Institute (www.EstesPark.org), a leading healthcare educational organization for trustees, senior managers and medical staff leaders at America’s community hospitals. He also serves on the board of the Volunteers in Medicine Institute, a national network of 80 free clinics in 26 states, organized to use retired and practicing medical professionals and community volunteers in caring for the uninsured.

Prior to forming his own firm, Mr. Rivkin spent 14 years with Trout & Ries Inc., the prestigious marketing strategy firm known for its pioneering work in positioning and marketing warfare. As executive vice president at Trout & Ries, Mr. Rivkin supervised campaigns and strategy projects for such clients as Harrah's Hotels, Ingersoll-Rand, Leica Cameras, Magnavox, Playtex, Stop & Shop Supermarkets and United Jersey Banks.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Rivkin worked at International Utilities Corp., a Philadelphia-based conglomerate, in advertising, public relations and corporate identity. A journalism graduate from the University of Missouri, he began his career as an associate editor of Iron Age magazine, a weekly trade publication. Later, he was co-founder and editor of Financial Marketing Abstracts, a monthly newsletter.

Mr. Rivkin is the co-author of six books:

• The New Positioning (1996), the sequel to the international best-seller that introduced the concept of positioning.
• The Power of Simplicity (1998), a guide to coping with the complexity of management, leadership and people issues.
• Differentiate or Die (2000, second edition 2008), on finding and exploiting your unique selling proposition.
• IdeaWise (2002), written with Fraser Seitel, a guide to observing, borrowing and adapting new ideas.
• The Making of a Name (2004), a comprehensive study of the strategic, creative, linguistic and legal aspects of brand names.
• Repositioning (2010), on marketing in an era of competition, change and crisis.