About Tom Ellis
Tom Ellis is a lifelong resident of Montgomery County and he currently works at the law firm of Ballard Spahr as a partner in the Public Finance Department. He has worked on a variety of tax exempt financing projects since joining the firm, primarily with Pennsylvania local governments. In addition, he has worked with authority issuers and currently handles government relations matters within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
In 2003, Tom was elected to the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners. On his very 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 nearly a half a billion dollars and he utilized cutting-edge financing techniques which enabled the county to increase services while cutting costs. He was also successful in reducing county taxes, preserving record amounts of open space, and introducing new technology to keep our children safe.
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. He previously served as a member of the Cheltenham Township Planning Commission and Cheltenham Township Citizens Advisory Committee and on the Board of Directors of the Moss Rehabilitation Hospital.
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 currently lives in Elkins Park.