About Tom Ellis
Tom Ellis is a lifelong resident of Montgomery County and a partner in the Public Finance Department of the law firm of Ballard Spahr Andrews and Ingersoll, LLP. He has worked on a variety of tax exempt financing projects since joining the firm, primarily with Pennsylvania local governments and municipal authorities.
In 2003, Tom was elected to the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners. Even prior to his first day in office, Tom used his finance experience to re-evaluate a portion of Montgomery County’s bonds, saving County taxpayers millions of dollars. During his tenure as Chairman of the Board of Commissioners, Tom oversaw a county budget of a half a billion dollars and utilized cutting-edge financing techniques enabling the county to increase services while cutting costs. Tom was also successful in reducing county taxes, preserving record amounts of open space, and introducing new technology to keep our children safe while in school.
Public safety was the cornerstone of the Ellis Administration, culminating in the construction of a new anti-terrorism training facility for emergency personnel; a new fire-training facility for our volunteer firefighters; an expanded 911 call center and finally a sophisticated panic-button alarm system in every school in the County.
Prior to his election to the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners in 2003, Tom served on the Cheltenham Township Board of Commissioners from 1990 – 2002 where he chaired the finance committee. He previously served as a member of the Cheltenham Township Planning Commission, Cheltenham Township Citizens Advisory Committee, Cheltenham Auxiliary Police and the Board of Directors of the Moss Rehabilitation Hospital. Tom was also a little league soccer coach for his daughters.
Tom presently serves on the Boards of the Elkins Park Fire Company, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and Independence Blue Cross.
Tom was honored in 2004 and 2006 by Law & Politics magazine and Philadelphia magazine as a "Pennsylvania Super Lawyer" in the area of Bonds/Government Finance law.
Tom is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (B.A., summa cum laude,1982) where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and the University of Pennsylvania School of Law (J.D., cum laude, 1985) where he served as editor of the Law Review and was a member of the Order of the Coif.
Tom has two daughters, Rebecca and Rachael. Rebecca is currently a junior, attending the Tisch School at the New York University where she is majoring in playwriting/screenwriting. Rachael is a freshman in the school of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.
Tom and his family currently reside in Elkins Park, Montgomery County.
