Having grown up in the Chicago area, Ellen started coming to Martha’s Vineyard in 1985 and has considered it her home for the past 11 years after her husband, Dan, joined Martha’s Vineyard Hospital as an OB/Gyn physician.

During her many summers on the Island, Ellen became very involved at the Vineyard Haven Yacht Club (VHYC) as her daughter and son learned to race Optis, 420s and Laser sailboats at VHYC. Ellen joined the VHYC Board of Governors in 2008 and served as its Commodore from 2014-2016. During her tenure at VHYC, Ellen has been a huge proponent of VHYC’s Junior Member program that allows full-time Island children to become members of VHYC in order to take advantage of its junior sailing and tennis programs. Many VHYC Junior Members have gone on to become accomplished members of the MVRHS sailing team and continued their sailing careers in college.

Ellen is also a partner at Sidley Austin LLP, where she is global co-head of its Derivatives Industry Group and regularly advises clients on derivatives and structured finance legal matters. When Ellen isn’t traveling for work, she spends her time on the Island or in the waters surrounding it. Giving back to the local community, Ellen spends much of her spare time supporting the local sailing community by running regattas, including the annual Vineyard Cup Regatta, which supports Sail Martha’s Vineyard and its maritime focused programs and the VHYC annual 420 Junior Regatta, which attracts teenage sailors from across the Cape and Islands to compete as part of the Southern Massachusetts Sailing Association Grand Prix. Ellen also currently sits on the Board of Directors of Featherstone Center for the Arts and is President of the Black Point Beach Association.

Ellen and Dan currently live in Chilmark with their dog, Bosun, and enjoy frequent visits from their two married children and granddaughter.