About Alan

Alan M. Webber is an award-winning, nationally-recognized editor, author, and columnist. In 1995, he launched Fast Company magazine, a fresh, dynamic entry in the business magazine category. Headquartered in Boston, MA, the magazine became the fastest growing, most successful business magazine in history. Fast Company won 2 national magazine awards—one for general excellence, one for design—and Webber was named Adweek’s Editor of the Year in 1999, along with co-founding editor William Taylor.

In 2000 Fast Company magazine was sold to Gruner + Jahr for the second largest amount of any magazine in U.S. history. Last year Webber stepped down from his full-time editorial responsibilities, but has retained his title and contributing role as founding editor.

Prior to founding Fast Company, Webber was for 5 years the managing editor and editorial director of the Harvard Business Review. During his tenure, HBR was twice a finalist for National Magazine awards; he oversaw the journal’s visual redesign and created the architecture for the journal’s editorial performance that continues to this day. Earlier in his career Webber was also active in the world of alternative newspapers: He worked as an editor at Willamette Week newspaper in
Portland, Oregon, overseeing that paper’s commentary, editorial, and op-ed section, and helped to found The Oregon Times, a political paper headed by a protégé of I.F. Stone. Webber is the co-author of two business-related books, Changing Alliances, a Harvard Business School study of the competitiveness of the U.S. auto industry, and Going Global, a look at the techniques and tactics needed to succeed in the global economy. His articles and columns have appeared in The New York Times Sunday magazine, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and the Los Angeles Tiimes, among other publications.

He has also been active at local, state, and national political levels, serving as policy advisor for the mayor of Portland, Oregon, writing speeches for several governors, and working as special assistant to the United States Secretary of Transportation.