Scott Talan, MPA, has worked in media, PR, and communications in four distinct fields: TV News, Politics, Nonprofits and Higher Education. Scott has recently worked at the UN with UNICEF, Harvard University and the New Mexico Legislature. He currently is the Director of Communications for the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs (www.NASPAA.org) and has successfully developed social networking platforms using YouTube, Facebook & Wikipedia. Scott was nominated in 2008 for the ‘Nonprofit Marketer of the Year’ award by the American Marketing Association. He also teaches a communications class at The George Washington University and a graduate level course on media relations at Johns Hopkins University.
Talan has worked as a writer at ABC News Good Morning America for hosts Diane Sawyer and Charlie Gibson. He's also reported on-air for local TV news stations in several states (FL, NM, CA) covering politics including the 2000 Presidential Recount story in Florida.
Before news, Talan served as an elected city council member and Mayor of Lafayette, California. His first career was in nonprofit communications working for the March of Dimes. Talan received his Master in Public Administration from Harvard's Kennedy School . He studied broadcast journalism at Stanford after getting his BA from the University of California at Davis studying Economics and Political Science. Talan has traveled to six of the seven continents and has written several stories on Cuba, Mongolia and Europe.
Scott was born in NY City, raised in Northern California, and now lives in Washington DC..