Mike Castellano joined the Commission as Executive Director in May 2024. Previously, he was serving as Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry & Security (BIS), where he led various special projects and stakeholder outreach relating to export control policy and the Information and Communications Technology and Services (ICTS) authority for the Office of the Under Secretary.
Mike spent the prior 20 years focused heavily on international trade policy, including extensive work on China. Ten of those years were as Vice President, Government Relations at the Walt Disney Company, focusing on Disney's international policy agenda. While working for Disney he served on the International Trade Advisory Committee for Intellectual Property, advising the Department of Commerce and the U.S. Trade Representative on international trade policy. Before Disney, Mike spent ten years on Capitol Hill. Six of those years he worked for Senate Majority/Minority Leader Harry Reid, ending as Senior Counsel & Senior Policy Advisor, where he was responsible for issues of international trade and related international economic policy, including a significant focus on China, intellectual property rights and cyber security (commercial side), among other areas. The previous four years Mike worked as Trade Counsel for the Committee on Ways & Means Democrats and Tax & Trade Counsel for U.S. Representative Sandy Levin covering the full scope of international trade policy issues.
Michael started his career clerking for Judge Francis Murnaghan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, followed by a stint practicing international trade law at petitioner's law firm Dewey Ballantine, LLP. He received his J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, M.A.L.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and B.A. with honors in political science from Johns Hopkins University.