CREW Crew

Melanie Sloan, Executive Director
Melanie Sloan serves as CREW's Executive Director and is a nationally recognized expert on congressional ethics. Prior to starting CREW, she served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Columbia where, from 1998-2003, she successfully tried cases before dozens of judges and juries. Before becoming a prosecutor, Ms. Sloan served as Minority Counsel for the House Judiciary Committee, working on criminal justice issues for then-Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI). Ms. Sloan also served as Counsel for the Crime Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by then-Representative Charles Schumer (D-NY). There, she drafted portions of the 1994 Crime Bill, including the Violence Against Women Act. In 1993, Ms. Sloan served as Nominations Counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, under then-Chairman Joseph Biden (D-DE). Prior to working for the Congress, she was an associate at Howrey and Simon in Washington D.C. Ms. Sloan received her B.A. and J.D. from the University of Chicago and has published in the Yale Law and Policy Review, and numerous other publications. Frequently called upon by national news programs to provide analysis, Ms. Sloan has appeared on shows including: NPR's All Things Considered and Morning Edition; CNN's The Situation Room, Larry King Live, Lou Dobbs and Anderson Cooper 360; MSNBC's Hardball, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, The Rachel Maddow Show, The Ed Show and The Dylan Ratigan Show; Fox News' Special Report with Bret Baier; NBC Nightly News; CBS Evening News; and ABC World News Tonight. Ms. Sloan also regularly provides insight to newspapers and magazines across the country including: The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, Newsweek Magazine, Harper's Magazine, and Rolling Stone, which named her One of the Year's Greatest Mavericks in 2006. She has been profiled in a number of publications including: Ms. Magazine, Time Magazine and Mother Jones. Ms. Sloan has also been named one of Washington, DC’s Top Grassroots Lobbyists by The Hill for three years running and was profiled in the September 2009 issue of O Magazine as part of the O Power List. Recently, The National Law Journal named Ms. Sloan on of "Washington's Most Influential Women Lawyers."

Anne L. Weismann, Chief Counsel
Anne Weismann serves as CREW’s Chief Counsel. Prior to joining CREW, Ms. Weismann served as Deputy Chief of the Enforcement Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission, where she had responsibility for all of the Bureau's telecommunications matters. Before that, she worked in the Civil Division of the Department of Justice, where she served as an Assistant Branch Director with supervisory responsibility over banking litigation, housing litigation, and from 1995 until 2002, all government information litigation. This included litigation under the Freedom of Information Act, the Privacy Act, the Federal Advisory Committee Act and statutes governing federal and presidential records. Prior to that she worked in the Solicitor's Office of the Department of Labor. Ms. Weismann received her B.A. magna cum laude from Brown University and her J.D. from George Washington University’s National Law Center.

Anne Bowman, Senior Research Associate and Intern Coordinator
Anne Bowman serves as senior research associate and intern coordinator at CREW. Prior to joining the organization, Anne performed candidate research at 3rd Coast Research, a political consulting firm. She also has previous experience working in the Wisconsin Legislature. A Chicago native, Anne earned her B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Institute d’Etudes Politiques, France.

Lisa Drew, Operations Manager
Lisa Drew serves as manager of finance and operations at CREW. Before joining the CREW, Lisa worked for the ONE Campaign, a non partisan, non-profit organization that aims to increase the United States government funding for international aid programs.

Ben Fortney, New Media Director
Ben Fortney serves as the New Media Director for CREW. Before joining the organization Mr. Fortney worked at the United Nations Association of the USA, and in various positions across the education and non-profit industries. He holds a MA in Globalization, Development and Transition from London’s University of Westminster and a Liberal Arts BA from Seton Hall University. A Long Island, NY native Ben has spent the past decade working on the web, continually fascinated by the intersection of technology, sociology, information and design found there.

Linda Mendoza, Research Associate
Linda Mendoza is a research associate at CREW. Prior to joining the organization, Linda performed strategic campaign research with the Service Employees International Union, Local 32BJ. She has also worked on various federal and local political campaigns. A West Coast native, Linda earned her B.A. in Political Science from the University of Arizona.

David Merchant, Staff Assistant
David Merchant is the Staff Assistant at CREW. Prior to joining CREW, David assisted attorneys and government policy advisors as an intern at Dykema Gossett, PLLC. He also previously interned with the office of Congressman Gary C. Peters. A native of Metro Detroit, David received his B.A. in Political Science from the University of Michigan and has also studied at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.

Jeremy Miller, Policy Director
Jeremy Miller serves as CREW’s Policy Director. Prior to joining CREW, Mr. Miller worked in the U.S. Senate as a Special Assistant in the office of Senator Jeff Merkley, providing legislative assistance primarily on banking and health care issues. Mr. Miller has also worked on the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation under then-Ranking Members Fritz Hollings and Daniel Inouye, as well as U.S. Senators Paul Wellstone and Barbara Boxer. Mr. Miller received his J.D. from the University of Texas and a B.A. in politics from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Robin Powers, Deputy Director
Robin Powers serves as Deputy Director of CREW. Previously, Ms. Powers served as Director of Research and Special Projects and as a Research Associate. Prior to joining the organization, Ms. Powers served as a Program Associate for Alliance for Justice, a nonprofit, national association of public interest groups that work to advance the cause of justice for all citizens. As Program Associate, she coordinated workshops and tracked legislation affecting the ability of the nonprofit community to engage in the public policy process. Ms. Powers also has interned with Vital Voices Global Partnership, the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois and various political campaigns. She is a graduate of the University of Iowa and the Université Paul Valéry in Montpellier, France. Robin is a native of Chicago.

Adam Rappaport, Senior Counsel
Adam Rappaport serves as CREW’s Senior Counsel. Prior to joining CREW, Mr. Rappaport practiced law at Levine, Sullivan, Koch & Schulz, L.L.P., where he represented members of the news media in seeking access to government records and proceedings and defended them in defamation cases. Before that, Mr. Rappaport served as a law clerk to Judge David G. Trager of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Mr. Rappaport covered Congress for National Journal’s CongressDaily and the States News Service before attending law school. Mr. Rappaport received his J.D. with honors from the University of Chicago and his B.A. from Wesleyan University.

Adam Ratliff, Communications Associate
Adam Ratliff is a Communications Associate at CREW. Before joining the organization, he served in communications positions at the Justice Policy Institute, the national office of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), and at Earth Day Network. He received his B.A. in Communications from George Mason University. He has appeared in interviews on BBC Radio and Voice of America, along with numerous print publications. He lives in Washington, D.C. and is a native of Virginia.

Noah Rosenblum, Research Fellow
Noah Rosenblum is a non-resident Research Fellow at CREW. Prior to joining the organization, he interned with the Asociacion Civil por la Igualdad y la Justicia, in Buenos Aires, and the office of Congressman Chris Van Hollen. He maintains interests in democratic culture, government accountability, and public ethics. A graduate of Harvard and Deep Springs College, he is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in intellectual history at Columbia University.

Garrett Russo, Communications Director
Garrett Russo serves as CREW’s Communications Director. Prior to joining CREW, Mr. Russo ran the National Press Desk for former Vice President Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection. He has also served as Communications Director to a senior Member of Congress, and as Press Secretary and Media Director for the national environmental group American Rivers. Prior to entering politics, Mr. Russo worked as a television journalist in some of the country’s largest media markets, including Miami, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. His journalistic work has been honored with several prestigious awards, among them two Emmys. He is a graduate of the University of Miami, and also studied at Exeter College at the University of Oxford.

Dan Stevens, Research Associate
Dan Stevens is a Research Associate at CREW. Prior to joining the organization, Dan worked as a Legislative Correspondent for United States Senator Tom Harkin. Dan also served as a secretary in the Iowa House of Representatives and interned at the New America Foundation. An Iowa native, Dan received his B.A. from Middlebury College and the Corvinus University of Budapest.

CREW Board of Directors (.pdf)