Erika Pontarelli Compart is communications and editorial director at the Public Affairs Council. In this capacity, she oversees the Council's global communications programs, including its website, monthly newsletter (Impact), research publications and marketing communications. She also serves as the Council's chief editor and assists in new program development.

Prior to joining the Council, Erika worked as a journalist for 14 years. Most recently, she was deputy managing editor of POLITICO, where she was responsible for production of the daily newspaper and managed the copy, design and photo teams. She was also part of the team that won a 2010 American Copy Editors Society award for headline writing.

Previously, she worked as an editor, reporter and translator in Agence France-Presse's Washington bureau, covering everything from the White House, the Sept. 11 attacks and the Shuttle Columbia disaster to arts and culture.

A Philadelphia native, Erika worked as an editor at U.S. News & World Report after graduating from the University of Maryland at College Park with degrees in journalism and French. She spent a semester studying French and international business at the University of Nice, and she later studied Italian in Siena, Italy.

Erika has conducted editing seminars for students, professors and fellow journalists and, in 2009, served as a judge for the International Center for Journalists' Knight Awards. Erika lives in Northern Virginia with her husband, fellow Maryland alum Andrew Compart of Aviation Daily/Aviation Week, and their son, Matteo. She enjoys taking photos, dancing, cooking, traveling and spending time with friends and family.