John Prescott Ellis (born February 3, 1953) is an American former journalist and media consultant, and is now a partner in the venture-capital firm Sand Hills Partners. He is a nephew of former President of the United States George H. W. Bush and a first cousin of former president George W. Bush and former governor of Florida John Ellis "Jeb" Bush.
Family background & private life
Ellis's father was Alexander B. "Sandy" Ellis, an insurance executive in Boston, who studied at Yale University. His mother was Nancy Walker Bush Ellis, a sister of former president George H. W. Bush. His siblings include former Denver Broncos CEO Joe Ellis and Alexander Ellis III. Both his father Sandy Ellis and uncle George H. W. Bush were members of Skull and Bones at Yale. Ellis himself also attended Yale University, graduating in 1976.
Ellis is married and has two children with his wife Susan Smith Ellis, a former executive for Omnicom Group and CEO of (RED). They live near the Hudson River.
Career
In 1978, Ellis started working for NBC as a consultant. He then worked on his uncle George H. W. Bush's presidential campaign in 1979, and later returned to NBC, where he worked for the elections unit until 1989. Fox News was the first (at 2:16 am ET) to call Florida for Bush, with other networks following shortly thereafter. he was responsible for Fox News's decisions in calling states for Gore or Bush based on statistical results from the VNS data.
This controversy was picked up by, among others, Michael Moore in his 2004 film Fahrenheit 9/11.
Recent career
From 2002 to 2006 he was a contributing columnist for The Wall Street Journal. In 2021, Ellis hosted the News Items Podcast with co-host Rebecca Darst, produced by The Recount.