Melanie Sloan

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 U.S. attorney in the District of Columbia where, from 1998 to 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-Rep. 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, D.C.’s top grassroots lobbyists by The Hill for three years running and was profiled in the September 2009 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine as part of the "O Power List."