Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski announced on September 9 that he has appointed P. Michele Ellison as Chief of the Enforcement Bureau. Ellison will take the helm of the Enforcement Bureau starting on September 28, 2009. "Protecting and empowering consumers through effective and timely enforcement of the Commission's rules and policies is a top priority for the FCC," said Chairman Genachowski. "Michele is a talented leader with vast communications experience and sound legal judgment, and I look forward to working with her in her new capacity."

Ellison is currently Deputy General Counsel, a position she has held for the last 12 years, and most recently served as Acting General Counsel of the FCC through July 2009. In addition to her other duties, she also was named Transition Counsel to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn. Ellison joined the Office of the General Counsel in 1995. "She has had a rich and varied practice at the agency, from her initial years of handling complex FCC litigation before the federal courts to her current focus on competition policy in the context of mergers and acquisitions and on spectrum and fraud matters involving billions in auctions and universal service funds," according to an FCC press release.

Ellison also has provided leadership in other policy areas, including co-chairing the Commission's Localism Task Force, leading a Task Force on expanding communications opportunities to small businesses and developing countries, as well as serving as senior advisor to former Chairman William Kennard; Kennard served as Chairman from October 1997 to January 2001. Before joining the Commission, Ellison was a partner with the law firm of Williams and Connolly, with a litigation practice. She began her career as a law clerk for the Honorable Damon J. Keith in the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Detroit, Michigan and for the Honorable Paul R. Webber III in the Superior Court for the District of Columbia.