Allan Clear has been the Harm Reduction Coalition's (HRC) Executive Director since October, 1995. HRC is a national organization committed to reducing drug-related harm among individuals and communities by initiating and promoting local, regional, and national harm reduction education and training, community organizing, and advocacy. Before joining HRC, Mr. Clear was Co-founder, and Executive Director of the Lower East Side Harm Reduction Center, an innovative community-based organization serving drug users developed out of the Lower East Side Needle Exchange Program, one of the five original New York State-authorized programs. He is a leading national spokesperson on issues related to harm reuction, needle exchange, and the rights of drug users.He is also a member of Visual Impacts, a New YorkCity-based photo agency which is concerned with addressing issues of social control, for which he reported on AIDS and AIDS-related issues, the Middle East conflict, and the Serbo-Croat war. Mr. Clear was the 1996 valedictorian of the Columbia University Business School's Institute for Non-Profit Management Executive Training.