Spanfeller graduated from
Union College with a B.A. in English Literature in 1979 and went to work as a reporter for the
SoHo Weekly News. He soon switched to the business side of the paper, and later took a tour through Europe. Upon returning from Europe, Spanfeller took a position at AMP Marketing Systems. Just under two years later, Spanfeller was replaced as publisher by
Scott Kauffman and became the national sales manager of
Newsweek magazine in 1986. Spanfeller was named associate publisher and senior vice president of marketing of
Playboy Enterprises in April 1989. In June 1993, Spanfeller became associate publisher for advertising at
Inc. magazine, replacing Kristin Norrgard, who left to become publisher of
Working Woman magazine. In 1996, Spanfeller left his job at Inc., where he had become publisher, to become publisher of
Yahoo! Internet Life, a joint publication of
Ziff-Davis and
Yahoo!. Spanfeller was also responsible for advertising sales on the magazine's website and that of Yahoo! Computing. == Forbes.com ==