Alan Spears uses real-life stories and a conversational style to connect with his audiences to promote NPCA’s advocacy and the critical role the National Park Service plays in protecting, interpreting and managing this nation’s historic and cultural resources. A veteran advocate, a member of the Government Affairs department, and founding member of NPCA’s Cultural Resources team, Alan has led community outreach and legislative engagement on a variety of park protection issues for over twenty-five years.

In 2023, Alan helped to secure a positive culmination to a five-year campaign to designate the Emmett Till & Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument through President Biden's use of the Antiquities Act. In December 2022, Alan worked with members of the Alliance of National Heritage Areas to win passage of the Heritage Area Act.

He remains the only NPCA staffer to have been pulled from a tidal marsh by a Park Police helicopter.