John W. Leslie, Jr., commonly known as Jack Leslie, is an American public relations executive, political consultant and international development activist. He is the chairman of Weber Shandwick, a global public relations firm. President George W. Bush appointed him to the board of the U.S. African Development Foundation in 2003. In 2009, President Barack Obama appointed him chairman.
Education and early career
Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Leslie graduated from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. He worked for Senator Edward M. Kennedy as legislative assistant and later as northeast regional director in the Kennedy for President campaign of 1980. After the presidential campaign, he served as Executive Director of the Fund for a Democratic Majority, a political action committee Kennedy founded to support Democratic candidates.
Public relations career
In 1983, Leslie left Washington for New York City to join the media consultant David Sawyer, and in 1985 became president of Sawyer Miller Group, a campaign consulting and strategic communications firm. Sawyer Miller Group was sold to the advertising firm Bozell Jacobs Kenyon & Eckhardt in 1992, then merged with Robinson Lake, a New York-based corporate communications consultancy chaired by Linda Robinson. The firm later split and became Bozell Sawyer Miller Group. Bozell was acquired by True North, which in turn was acquired by Interpublic Group in 2001. In 2001, Bozell Sawyer Miller Group was merged with Weber Shandwick. Leslie was named chairman, and Harris Diamond CEO. During the 1980s and 1990s, Leslie provided political counsel to presidential and statewide campaigns in the United States, Latin America, Asia and Africa. Leslie served as a communications crisis advisor to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in the immediate aftermath of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and to American Airlines following the attacks of September 11, 2001. Following the September 11 terrorist attacks, he testified before the House International Relations Committee on U.S. public diplomacy programs directed at the Muslim world. Leslie is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and served as a member of the group's Task Force on Terrorism and Public Diplomacy. He is also a member of the CuriosityStreamAdvisory Board.
Nonprofit activities
He was chairman of USA for UNHCR from 2003-2006 and participated in U.N. missions to Afghanistan, Kosovo and Tanzania. In addition to the Board of the U.S. African Development Foundation, Leslie also served on the Advisory Board of the International Business Leaders Forum. He is chairman of the Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid of the U.S. Agency for International Development, a member of the Board of Advisors of the Duke Global Health Institute, and chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Ron Brown Scholar Program. He is also on the board of the Circumnavigators Foundation, an organization that provides scholarships for study abroad.
Personal life
Leslie is married to Caroline Pech, has three children and lives in Fairfield, Connecticut.
