Riki Ellison is the Chairman and Founder of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA), a non-profit organization launched in 2002 with a mission to drive the political and public will for the deployment, development and evolution of missile defense. Since its founding, the organization has grown to over 13,000 members across the world and has emerged as the preeminent player on missile defense.

Mr. Ellison’s passion for missile defense began while attending the University of Southern California on a Football Scholarship, where the concept of making nuclear weapons obsolete by missile defense technologies was embedded. Mr. Ellison was further inspired by President Reagan’s 1983 speech on the Strategic Defense Initiative and from Dr. Edward Teller the Father of the Hydrogen Bomb and early member of the Manhattan Project. Mr. Ellison earned a degree in international relations with an graduate emphasis on defense and strategic studies. Ellison was a starting linebacker for the Trojans' football team, winning the 1979 and 1980 Rose Bowls along with the 1978 national championship.

Mr. Ellison was then drafted by the San Francisco 49ers and began advocating for missile defense during all of his off-seasons of his 10 year professional football career with the NFL. Mr. Ellison’s first professional work began on the Exo-atmospheric Reentry Interceptor (ERIS) in 1984, the nation’s second successful missile intercept by use of kinetic energy. Ellison won three Super Bowl championships with the 49ers and achieved All-Rookie, All-Madden, and Alternate All-Pro during his years in the NFL before retiring in 1992.

Mr. Ellison was an early advocate of missile defense and a pioneer in the field, having championed the cause for the past 25 years to raise awareness and educate the public of this important issue. Widely recognized as an expert among his peers in the field of missile defense, Mr. Ellison is frequently sought after for his expertise by administration and military officials, congressional members and policymakers. In 2007 he was invited to tour the Middle East, Africa and the Persian Gulf as part of the JCOC tour under Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. He has been featured and cited as an authority on this topic in many major national and international news media outlets. In 2009 Mr. Ellison attended the National Security Seminar at the Army War College.

In 2005, Mr. Ellison founded the Youth Impact Program for disadvantaged, poverty-stricken and at-risk adolescent boys in our nation’s inner-cities. The program places them in an educational setting for five weeks, exposing them to academics, life skills and athletics in a University setting. The program provides the boys with clothing, food and permanent mentors who track and support the young men year-round. The Youth Impact Program is now in four major cities – Los Angeles, New Orleans, Houston, and Tampa with four University’s – USC, Tulane, Rice and USF- the Youth Impact Program and has twice been recognized by the United States Congress in Congressional Resolutions for its achievements, innovation and impact. The program has also been recognized by the Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints and their ownership during this past season.