In the financial world, Alan was the founder and Chairman of 1st Century Bank, now a division of MidFirst Bank, for which he currently serves as Chairman for its Southern California market. Previously, he cofounded another very successful independent financial institution, First Los Angeles Bank. Alan has served as counsel and board member for several other banks.

In his legal career, he was Managing Partner of Manatt, a leading law firm in the financial services and health care sectors. He then joined Latham & Watkins as partner, from which he retired to found 1st Century Bank and Premier Partnerships, a sports agency that values and maximizes revenues for professional, collegiate, municipality-owned arenas, stadiums, theaters and other properties through the sale of naming rights and sponsorships which are then securitized to finance construction of these facilities.

In the corporate world, Alan served on numerous boards and committees of publicly traded companies, including Zenith National Corporation, Arden Realty and California Pizza Kitchen.

Alan is widely recognized for his extraordinary achievements in the world of sports. He served as a top executive in the NBA from 1967 to 2000 representing the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers, and as Chair of the NBA TV and Labor Committees. He then spearheaded soccer’s spectacular rise in the United States as President of the United States Soccer Federation from 1990 until 1998. Alan was Chair and CEO of the 1994 FIFA World Cup, which remains the organization’s most successful global event to date in terms of attendance and profits.

Alan was appointed Chairman of the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the most successful women’s sporting event in history, and oversaw the establishment of Major League Soccer. He sits on the boards of the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Commission, the Los Angeles Sports Council, and the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games.

Within FIFA he has served on its World Cup Organizing Committee for France in 1998, Japan-Korea in 2002, and Germany in 2006, as well as on its Women’s World Cup Committee and Ethics Committee. He was also the 2006 Chair of FIFA’s inspection committee which evaluated bids from Brazil, England, Germany, Morocco, and South Africa.

Among the many honors Alan has received during his long and distinguished career in sports are the FIFA Order of Merit, the U.S. Olympic Foundation’s Sports Leadership Award, and the Sports Business World’s “Champion in the Sports Business”. He was inducted into the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame-Builders.

Alan has held numerous leadership roles in community and non-profit organizations, including as President of the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners which operates LAX airport, Chairman of the Greater Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, and as Chairman of the Los Angeles Tourism Board. Alan also served as President of the State Bar of California in 1989 and 1990.

A longtime resident of California, Alan received his B.A. from the University of Michigan and a J.D. with distinction from its law school, which also honored him with a Distinguished Alumni Award in 2019.

Alan and his wife, also a graduate of the University of Michigan and an accomplished sculptor and jewelry designer, have three sons and six grandchildren.