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, CNN's The Situation Room, Larry King Live and Lou Dobbs, MSNBC's Hardball and Countdown with Keith Olbermann, 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 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.

Matt Jacob, Communications Director
Matt Jacob is CREW’s Communications Director. He has extensive experience developing and managing media strategies for non-profit organizations. Prior to joining CREW, Mr. Jacob served as deputy communications director at People For the American Way, and he worked at the American Federation of Teachers, assisting state and local affiliates with communications campaigns and training. Mr. Jacob also provided communications training for members of the Polish trade union Solidarity on behalf of the Institute for Democracy in Eastern Europe. Mr. Jacob’s work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Campaigns & Elections, USA Today, Roll Call, AlterNet.org and many other media outlets. He received his B.A. in journalism from the University of Arkansas.

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.

Peter Bjork, Communications Associate
Peter Bjork is a Communications Associate at CREW. Before joining the organization, Peter worked for Venture Communications, a media relations firm that catered to non-profits. A native of Medway, MA, Peter received his B.S. from Syracuse University.

Anne Bowman, Research Associate
Anne Bowman serves as a research associate 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.

Zachary Dagneau, Research Associate and Intern Coordinator
Zachary Dagneau is a research assistant at CREW. Before joining the organization, Zack taught civics and grassroots political action as a Program Instructor with The Close-Up Foundation. A native of Traverse City, Michigan, Zack studied Russian history and public policy at Albion College.

James Duane, Deputy Research Director
James Duane serves as Deputy Research Director for CREW. Before joining the organization, James worked on several federal and local political campaigns. He has previous experience interning for elected officials and in grassroots activism. He has a B.A. in History and Political Science and an M.A. in Political Science from Lehigh University. James is a native of Boston.

Rachel Sillman, Staff Assistant
Rachel Sillman is the Staff Assistant at CREW. Prior to joining CREW, Rachel worked for such organizations as the Carter Center, The Center for Socio-Economic Development, as well as The Boston Consortium on Gender, Security and Human Rights. She also worked as an intern for the Press Office of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. Rachel received her B.A. magna cum laude in International Relations from Boston University and has studied and worked abroad in England, Switzerland and Niger.

Robin Powers, Director of Research and Special Projects
Robin Powers serves as Director of Research and Special Projects for CREW. Previously, Ms. Powers served 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.

CREW Board