A grassroots activist by nature, Alan founded NoInternetTax.org in 2000 in reaction to a pending Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce report.

In addition to serving as President of NoInternetTax.org, Alan is President of the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise, President of the American Political Action Committee, Chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, Founder of the Second Amendment Foundation and a National Director of the American Conservative Union.

Alan is also President of Merril Associates, a noted direct response advertising agency specializing in direct mail, fund raising and public relations. He also heads Merril Press, a non-fiction book publishing company. Alan is the President of radio stations KBNP in Portland, OR; KITZ in Seattle, WA; and KSBN in Spokane, WA.

Alan has appeared on over 3,000 TV and radio talk shows, including the McNeil-Lehrer News Hour, ABC’s 20/20, the Michael Reagan Show, CNN Crossfire, Fox TV’s Crier Report, NBC Today Show, Larry King Live and Good Morning America.

Author of thirteen books, Alan is a recognized member of the working press, maintaining an active membership in the Outdoor Writer’s Association of America. His articles have appeared in the Seattle Times, San Francisco Examiner, Washington Post, Cincinnati Inquirer, Chicago Tribune, Orlando Sentinel and USA Today.

Alan is a nuclear engineering graduate of the University of Tennessee and has attended the Institute on Comparative Political & Economic Systems at Georgetown University. Alan and his wife Julianne reside in Bellevue, WA with their four children.

Jennifer Holder, Executive Vice-President

An award-winning strategic communications specialist, Jennifer has served a number of our nation’s political leaders, including Governor Gary Johnson and the late Congressman Steve Schiff. In 1995, former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole appointed Jennifer to serve as the National Co-Director of his youth campaign during his ’96 presidential campaign.

Jennifer’s consulting firm, PoliGistics, has successfully managed several state legislative and judicial races. She made history in 1996 as the campaign manager for an historical effort which reinstated a N.M. Supreme Court candidate to the ballot through a massive write-in campaign, after he was removed from the ballot.

In the private sector, Jennifer has worked for two of the largest advertising and public relations firms in the world. She was contracted to Intel Corporation where she served as a project coordinator for the construction of Rio Rancho High School, the first public/private venture of its kind in America. Other noted contract work includes efforts on behalf of the Mescalero Apache Tribe.

Jennifer is a founding member and serves on the board of the Bellwether Forum, a non-profit organization dedicated to networking and the inclusion of young professionals in our political process. She is currently the President of the Republican Women of Seattle and Public Relations Director for the Washington Federation of Republican Women.

A native of Montana, she is a graduate of Montana State University, where she double-majored in political science and French.

Brett Mecum, Deputy Political Director, United States

Deputy political director, United States, Brett Mecum recently stepped down from his role as the chairman of New York State College Republican Committee. Brett was nstrumental in NoInternetTax.org’s successful lobbying of Congress to extend the Internet Freedom Act and conducts research and special projects for the organization. Brett served as the youth leader for Congressman Rick Lazio’s 2000 Senate campaign and interned for both Congressman Bill Paxon and Governor George Pataki. Brett graduated from the University of Albany with a BA in Political Science and Urban/Regional Planning.