John Avlon

John Avlon is Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Beast. Mr. Avlon previously served as Executive Editor and Political Director of The Daily Beast. He began writing columns for The Daily Beast in November of 2008, one month after its launch. Mr. Avlon is a CNN political analyst who won the National Society of Newspaper Columnists’ award for best online column in 2012. Prior to joining The Daily Beast, John Avlon was a columnist and associate editor for The New York Sun and served as chief speechwriter for New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, where he was responsible for writing the eulogies for the firefighters and police officers killed in the destruction of the World Trade Center. He is the author of Washington's Farewell, Independent Nation and Wingnuts as well as an editor of the anthology Deadline Artists: America’s Greatest Newspaper Columns. Mr. Avlon graduated from Yale University and received his MBA from Columbia University.