After graduating from Amherst, Webber moved to
Portland, Oregon, where he worked at a start-up political journal,
The Oregon Times. Subsequently, he served in the office of then-Portland City Council member
Neil Goldschmidt and continued as his administrative assistant and policy advisor when he became mayor of Portland in 1972. The years Webber spent working alongside Goldschmidt resulted in Webber identifying Goldschmidt as his dear friend and mentor. Beginning in 1978, Webber served as editorial page editor of the alternative Oregon weekly newspaper,
Willamette Week, where he received an Oregon State Newspaper Publisher’s Association Award for news and feature writing. In 1980, Webber and his family moved to Washington, D.C., when Goldschmidt was named Secretary of Transportation in the
Carter administration. While working as Special Assistant to the
Secretary of Transportation, Webber worked on the
Chrysler Corporation bailout, the crisis in the U.S. auto industry, and overall national economic competitiveness issues. Webber worked at the
Harvard Business School in 1981 as a senior research assistant and project coordinator on the auto industry in the United States. The project culminated in a book called
Changing Alliances. He served as managing editor and editorial director of the
Harvard Business Review In 1995, Webber co-founded the technology business magazine,
Fast Company, where he was named Adweek's Editor of the Year in 1999. In 2000, investors sold
Fast Company for $360 million, which was at the time the second highest price ever paid for a U.S. magazine. Webber worked as a speechwriter and policy advisor for several governors, including Massachusetts Governor (and later Democratic Presidential candidate)
Michael Dukakis. Since 2010 he has been a member of the Academic Advisory Board of the Upper Austrian Think Tank Academia Superior – Institute for Future Studies.
Politics In October 2013, Webber declared his candidacy for the
Democratic Party nomination for
governor of New Mexico in the
2014 New Mexico gubernatorial election. Webber finished in second place, with 22.6% of the vote, trailing
Gary King, who received 35% of the vote. In 2018, Webber ran for
mayor of Santa Fe, as the incumbent,
Javier Gonzales, was not seeking reelection. In an election using
ranked choice voting, Webber prevailed, defeating three members of the
city council and a member of the school board. He was the first choice on 39% of ballots, but ended up with 66% of the vote after the fourth round of the runoff. The
Statue of Diego de Vargas was removed from Cathedral Park under the direction of Alan Webber in June 2020. During a period of
pro-Palestinian protests in the United States, Webber criticized two event cancellations: •
Meow Wolf cancelled a concert by pro-Israel alternative rapper
Matisyahu at the entertainment company's Santa Fe headquarters in February 2024, citing safety concerns; Webber issued a statement, saying "there is a significant difference between protesting the policies of the Netanyahu government in Gaza and shutting down the performance of a Jewish-American artist in Santa Fe." •
Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts cancelled a planned visit by
Israeli Consul General Livia Link-Raviv to the Global Santa Fe conference in March 2024. ==Publications==