SUNY Board Chairman Welcomes Ambassador Carl Spielvogel to Board of Trustees

Albany – SUNY Board Chairman Carl T. Hayden today welcomed Ambassador Carl Spielvogel to the SUNY Board of Trustees. Ambassador Spielvogel was nominated to the post by Governor Paterson June 6 and his nomination was confirmed by the New York State Senate. Ambassador Spielvogel replaces Gordon Gross on the Board.

Chairman Hayden said, “It is my pleasure to welcome Trustee Spielvogel to the Board and I look forward to his joining us at our next full Board meeting in September. Over the summer months, we will bring him up to date on a number of ongoing University initiatives, including our search for Chancellor.  I am certain his experience and skills will be of great value to us during this key period.”

Interim SUNY Chancellor Dr. John B. Clark said, “Trustee Spielvogel is one of the nation’s leading international business executives. The knowledge, experience and expertise he has acquired over his distinguished career in business and diplomacy is going to be of great benefit to the State University of New York and its faculty, staff and students on our 64 campuses.”

Hayden and Clark also thanked Gordon Gross for his years of invaluable service and noted that he will continue his work with SUNY on several initiatives in Western New York, including ongoing projects with the University at Buffalo. 

About Ambassador Carl Spielvogel
Trustee Spielvogel started his working career as a reporter and columnist at The New York Times.  He later spent 20 years at McCann-Erickson and The Interpublic Group of Companies as Vice Chairman, before starting his own global marketing services company, Backer Spielvogel Bates Worldwide, as Chairman and CEO.

He next became the Founder Chairman and CEO of the United Auto Group, Inc., one of the first publicly owned automobile dealership group in the United States, with sales of $4 billion annually.

Trustee Spielvogel is currently Chairman and CEO of Carl Spielvogel Associates, Inc., an international marketing and finance company.

In his Government service, he was the U.S. Ambassador to The Slovak Republic; and a Governor of the U.S. Board of Broadcasting.  He was a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, and served in the U.S. Army for two years.

Trustee Spielvogel is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Board of Trustees of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts; the Board of Directors of the Asia Society; and a former member of the Board of Trustees of Mt. Sinai Hospital and the Philharmonic Symphony Society of New York.  He is a member of The Council on Foreign Relations, member of the executive committee of the Council of American Ambassadors, and the board of the Institute for the Study of Europe at Columbia University. 

He is a graduate of Baruch College of the City University of New York, and was a Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He resides in Manhattan, New York City. 

About the State University of New York

The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive university system in the United States, educating more than 427,000 students in 7,669 degree and certificate programs on 64 campuses. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunity, visit www.suny.edu 

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