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 14,000 members across the world and has emerged as the preeminent player on missile defense in the world.

 

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 a 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 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 under Head Coach Bill Walsh and achieved All-Rookie, All-Madden, Alternate All-Pro during his years with the NFL before retiring in 1992. Mr. Ellison finished his last three years with the Oakland Raiders and was a member of playoff teams 9 of his 10 years in the NFL.

 

Widely recognized as a top expert among his peers in the field of missile defense, Mr. Ellison is frequently sought after for his expertise by administration,   military officials, congressional members and policymakers including the President George W Bush of the United States. In 2007 he was invited to tour the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe, the Pacific Rim and the Persian Gulf and has continued visits with U.S. Armed Forces stationed there. Mr. Ellison attended the National Security Seminar at the Army War College in 2009 and at the Air War College in 2011. Mr. Ellison created and was responsible for the building of two national memorials for missile defense. The Ronald Reagan Missile Defense Memorial completed at Vandenberg AFB in California in 2008 and the Kauai Veterans Eternal Memorial and Missile Defense Viewing site completed at the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii in 2010.

 

Mr. Ellison continues to visit military bases active in missile defense around the country and the world to spend time with the war fighters to better understand how missile defense systems are actually used in the field and recognize their sacrifices. Mr. Ellison also established the MDAA Missile Defender of the Month and the now the annual “Missile Defender of the Year Award Ceremony.” These awards are given to the best U.S. missile defense soldier, sailor, airman and national guardsmen. In early January 2011, MDAA hosted its’ first annual Defender of the Year event bringing together winners from the differing branches of the military who were recommended by their service, commanders and peers.

 

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 four weeks, exposing them to academics, life skills and athletics in a university setting. The Youth Impact Program is in several of our nation’s major cities and universities including – San Francisco Bay Area and Stanford University, New Orleans and Tulane University, Houston and the University of Houston and Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York. The Youth Impact program has twice been recognized by the United States Congress in Congressional Resolutions for its overall achievements, innovation and impact. In early 2011, the Youth Impact program partnered with President Obama’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition. YIP also partners with the National Football League and major NCAA universities throughout the nation.