P. Michele Ellison - Chair, Connect2HealthFCC Task Force
Michele Ellison is General Counsel of the Federal Communications Commission and Chair of the FCC's Connect2Health Task Force. Previously, Ms. Ellison served as the agency's Chief of Staff. Prior to that, she was Chief of the FCC's Enforcement Bureau. She has also led the agency's legal team as Acting General Counsel.
Under her leadership, the Commission took consistent and aggressive action to enforce the Communications Act and the Commission's rules – issuing more than $300 million in proposed penalties and settlements and taking nearly 6000 enforcement actions. During her prior twelve-year stint in the Office of General Counsel, Ms. Ellison oversaw the transactions, bankruptcy, and fraud litigation portfolios and successfully negotiated multimillion dollar litigation settlements valued in excess of $4 billion.
Over the years, Ms. Ellison has been tapped to provide leadership in cross-cutting areas critical to the agency's mission. She co-chaired the Commission's Localism Task Force, a national effort to assess broadcasters' service to local communities. She also led the Commission's Task Force on expanding communications opportunities for small businesses and developing countries, and served as Special Advisor to former Chairman William Kennard on agency-wide personnel, administrative, and operational matters.
Before joining the Commission in 1995, Ms. Ellison was a Partner, and earlier an associate, at Williams and Connolly, one of Washington D.C.'s premiere litigation firms. Ms. Ellison clerked for the Honorable Damon J. Keith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and for the Honorable Paul R. Webber, III of the Superior Court for the District of Columbia. She received her J.D., cum laude from Howard University School of Law, and her B.A. from Duke University.