Alan Crawford is the editor of Impact, the Council's monthly newsletter.

Alan is a former congressional press secretary and U.S. Senate speechwriter, whose articles have appeared in an array of national newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, The Nation, The Weekly Standard, National Review, The Progressive and Vogue. He has been the Washington columnist for Adweek, and his articles on public relations, marketing and strategic communications have appeared in PR Week, PR Tactics and PR Strategist. Alan has also worked in public relations and marketing, first as a senior counselor with the public relations firm of The Martin Agency, then as a vice president of Emergence Brand Labs. He has also been a magazine editor, most recently with Los Angeles-based Active Interest Media.

He lives in Richmond, Va., but comes to Washington frequently.

He is the author of three books. The most recent, Twilight at Monticello: The Final Years of Thomas Jefferson, was published in January 2008 by Random House.