Richard Spencer is the president and director of the National Policy Institute and is credited with coining the term "alt-right".
The movement is a loosely organised far-right group that espouses white nationalism and has shown strong support for US president-elect Donald Trump.
Spencer describes alt-right as "the identity politics for white people in the 21st century".
Spencer, 38, rose to prominence after a video surfaced of him shouting "Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory" at a Washington DC conference as members of the crowd raised their hands in a Nazi salute.
His National Policy Institute is listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for promoting white-nationalist views.
The institute's mission statement says it aims "to elevate the consciousness of whites, ensure our biological and cultural continuity, and protect our civil rights".
"The institute ... will study the consequences of the ongoing influx that non-Western populations pose to our national identity," it says.
Al Jazeera's Kristen Saloomey sat down with Spencer in College Station, Texas.
