Alan is Senior Data & Events Editor for The Restaurant & Food Group within Informa Connect, including Nation’s Restaurant News, Restaurant Hospitality, Food Management and Supermarket News. He joined NRN in 1984, covering the Pacific Northwest, and later added chief photographer duties, initiated NRN’s regular technology coverage, was on the development team for NRN.com and generated content for NRN’s early podcasting initiative, Podcast Central, beginning in 2006. Alan is senior researcher and data analyst for NRN and Supermarket News market data products, including Top 200 and SN75, and helps develop and present educational programs for conferences and webinars. A graduate of California State University at Fullerton and a former daily and weekly newspaper reporter, he resides in Salinas, Calif.