Phillip D. Ellison

Phillip Ellison is an entrepreneurial public engagement strategist, cross-sector connector, and ecosystems builder. He has advised C-Suite corporate executives, entrepreneurs, politicians and government officials, and leaders in academia and philanthropy. In response to the need to implement climate change- renewable energy legislation in New York State, he recently joined the Legislative and Stakeholder Affairs team at the New York Power Authority. At NYPA, he supports the development and management of relationships with various state and local stakeholders to advance initiatives and innovations aimed at reducing carbon emissions to help New York transition to a cleaner and more sustainable energy future.

 Phillip is also Lecturer in Entrepreneurship at Tufts University where he co-created the course ‘Paths to Entrepreneurship’ which helps students learn and unlearn what it means to be an entrepreneur and how to be entrepreneurial within a company. This class also exposes students to careers and startup companies within industries like artificial intelligence, aerospace, legal cannabis, electric mobility, sustainable food science commercialization, social entrepreneurship, and social media. 

Prior, he worked in executive city government at the Office of the Public Advocate in New York City as the Manhattan Borough Advocate and created the role of the Strategist/Liaison to their Technology, Data, and Development team. During this time, he was also the inaugural Civic Innovation Fellow at the Digital Life Initiative Research Lab and an Urban Tech Researcher at the Cornell University Tech campus where he contributed to ‘Rebooting NYC: An Urban Tech Agenda for the Next Administration’.
Phillip’s career began working with underserved students and families in New York City public schools and youth development nonprofits including Citizen Schools. He is an alumnus of AmeriCorps-City Year New York in the South Bronx, The Millennial Trains Project Fellowship via ComcastNBC and The Rockefeller Foundation, the 4.0 Schools Fellowship, and the Obama ‘12 campaign. He is currently a member of Community Board 10 in Central Harlem, serves on the Board of Directors for the youth art and citizen development nonprofit, The Dorill Initiative in the Lower East Side, and advises a Boston-based education tech nonprofit Potencia. He is a proud supporter of the New York Historical Society and an alumnus of Tufts University.