Michael Ellis serves as the Vice President of Corporate Development at Blue Shield of California, where he is responsible for mergers & acquisitions (sourcing, evaluation and execution), joint ventures, external direct investments, and investments in venture capital funds. Blue Shield’s investment program is designed to drive innovation and bring healthcare into the modern age, and has invested over $150M across 7 venture capital firms and 12 start-ups, all focusing exclusively on healthcare.

Prior to his current role, Michael served as Deputy General Counsel at Blue Shield, where he had responsibility for a broad range of functions, including Corporate, Regulatory, Government Programs and Law Department operations.

Prior to joining Blue Shield, Michael was in private practice with Davis Polk & Wardwell, a leading global law firm, where he advised clients on mergers & acquisitions and capital marketstransactions, and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, a leading Silicon Valley law firm, where he advised clients on corporate and technology transactions matters.  He also helped co-found Fandango.com, an online ticketing company serving movie theaters and movie-goers (subsequently acquired by Comcast).

Michael earned his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and has a B.S. in Systems Engineering, also from the University of Virginia.