CREW’s 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. Learn more about Melanie Sloan.

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.

David Crockett, Research Associate
David Crockett is a Research Associate. Prior to joining CREW, David worked as a Research Associate for Governor Roy Barnes. A native of Atlanta, David graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in Economics and Russian and Eastern European Studies.

Alexander Diaz, Research Associate
Alexander Diaz is a Research Associate at CREW. Prior to joining the organization, Alex worked at a State House in Venezuela. Alex was also previously a Staff Assistant at CREW. A Venezuelan native, Alex received his B.A. from Northeastern University.

Lisa Drew, Business Manager
Lisa Drew is the Business Manager at CREW. Prior to joining the organization, Lisa worked at One Campaign as Director of Administration and Human Resources. Before that she was Associate Director for Finance and Personnel at the Elliot School for International Affairs at The George Washington University.

Lauren Farber, Staff Assistant
Lauren Farber is the Staff Assistant at CREW. Prior to joining CREW, Lauren worked as an assistant on the finance staff for Senator Richard Blumenthal’s 2010 campaign. She also previously interned at the American Security Project in Washington, D.C., and worked as an archives technician at the National Archives. Lauren received her B.A. in International Relations from The Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University and has also studied at Royal Holloway, University College of London.

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.

Carrie Levine, Research Director
Carrie Levine is CREW’s Research Director. Before joining CREW, Ms. Levine was an associate editor for The National Law Journal, where she covered lobbying. She has also reported for The Charlotte Observer, The Patriot Ledger of Quincy, Mass., and The Lowell Sun (Lowell, Mass.). She is a graduate of Boston University and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Linda Mendoza, Development and Research Coordinator
Linda Mendoza serves as CREW’s Development and Research Coordinator, and oversees CREW’s undergraduate internship program. Prior to joining the organization, Ms. Mendoza performed strategic campaign research with the Service Employees International Union, Local 32BJ, where she supported two major organizing drives. She has also worked on various federal and local political campaigns. Ms. Mendoza earned her B.A. in Political Science from the University of Arizona.

David Merchant, Communications Associate
David Merchant serves as CREW’s Communications Associate. Prior to joining CREW, David interned with Dykema Gossett, PLCC and with the U.S. House of Representatives. He also previously worked as Staff Assistant and later as a Research Fellow with CREW. 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.

John Morgan, Research Associate
John Morgan is a research associate at CREW. Prior to joining CREW, John was a member of the due diligence research team at Morgan Stanley in New York. A native of Long Island, NY, John graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.A. in English and is currently pursuing a Masters in Diplomacy through Norwich University.

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.

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, Senior 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.