The ACG Team
Chris Israel is a Senior Partner at ACG Advocacy and is also the co-lead of the firm’s technology and intellectual property group.
He joined ACG in 2010, after serving in the George W. Bush Administration as Deputy Chief of Staff to the Secretary of Commerce and later becoming the first U.S. International Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator.
At ACG Advocacy, Chris works with a diverse range of clients including some of the largest and most innovative companies in the world to support their efforts to build a policy environment in the U.S. that promotes and protects their investments in intellectual property. He has also developed a unique focus leading a coalition of top venture capitalists and innovative startups to pursue a policy agenda that has led to improvements in tax policy, investments in R&D, and strengthening patent protection.
Chris maintains a leadership profile working on IP and innovation issues and has been a frequent public speaker and has testified before Congress multiple times both as an Administration official and since he left public service. He was previously named one of the 50 “Most Influential People on IP” by Managing Intellectual Property magazine.
His international experience in government, particularly in working with China, has enabled him to successfully engage clients on global trade and technology matters ranging from the negotiations of trade agreements, tariff policy, and engaging international organizations. His client relationships have included automakers, global manufacturing companies, shipping companies, and Chinese e-commerce and social media platforms seeking to better understand the U.S. market.
Chris’ experience leading coalitions has also included serving as Executive Director of the musicFIRST Coalition during the lead-up to the passage of the landmark Music Modernization Act. During this time he was named to Medium’s inaugural “Power 10” list of music policy leaders.
Within ACG Advocacy, he provides guidance on the firm’s day-to-day interaction with all its clients and helps lead ACG’s extensive policy research team. He has also launched the firm’s podcast focused on policy trends and developments in Washington.
Earlier in his career, Chris worked on international policy issues at Time Warner where he was part of a team that supported then-CEO, Gerald Levin, to develop the Global Business Dialogue on E-Commerce a ground-breaking global organization of CEOs from the U.S., EU, and Asia that developed industry best practices on matters such as online privacy, cross border data flows, and online taxation.
Prior to Time Warner, he served on Capitol Hill as a legislative aide to U.S. Representatives Jan Meyers (R-KS) and Todd Tiahrt (R-KS).
Chris received his B.A. from the University of Kansas and an M.B.A. from The George Washington University.
