Michael Gallagher (political advisor)

Not to be confused with the U.S. legislator Mike Gallagher or the political commentator Mike Gallagher. For other people named Mike Gallagher, see Michael Gallagher (disambiguation).

Michael D. Gallagher
Michael Gallagher in 2004
Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information
In office 2004 – 2006 Acting: 2003-2004
President	George W. Bush
Secretary	Donald Evans Carlos Gutierrez
Preceded by	Nancy J. Victory
Succeeded by	John M. R. Kneuer
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information
In office August 14, 2003 – 2004
President	George W. Bush
Secretary	Donald Evans Nancy J. Victory (Asst. Secretary)
In office November 2, 2001 – May 26, 2003
President	George W. Bush
Secretary	Donald Evans
Personal details
Born	(1964-01-23) January 23, 1964 Arcadia, California, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Children	3
Residence(s)	Washington, D.C., U.S.
Education	University of California, Berkeley UCLA School of Law
Occupation	Business executive

Michael D. Gallagher (born January 23, 1964) is an American businessman and political advisor. He held positions in the George W. Bush White House, including in the United States Department of Commerce. He was the president and CEO of the Entertainment Software Association, a trade association that represents U.S. computer and video game publishers, until he stepped down in October 2018.

Career

Gallagher received his B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley and his J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Gallagher served as administrative assistant to Washington Congressman Rick White and co-chaired the government relations practice group at the law firm of Perkins Coie.

He was managing director for government relations at AirTouch Communications, which was merged with Verizon Wireless. After the merger, he was vice president for state public policy at Verizon.

On October 14, 2003, Gallagher was installed as Assistant Secretary for Commerce and Information in the United States Department of Commerce and Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration via a recess appointment, bypassing Senate approval. He was later confirmed by the Senate and left the Commerce Department in 2006.

On May 17, 2007, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) named Gallagher as their 2nd president, replacing founder Doug Lowenstein. During his service as CEO, he reinstated the industry's trade show, the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2009 and opening it up to consumers in 2017. He also led the industry's successful US Supreme Court challenge of a California statute restricting the sale of mature rated video games in the decision Brown vs. Electronic Merchants Association (ESA) in 2011, cementing the freedom of expression rights video game creators alongside other media and art forms.

He stepped down in October 2018 and founded his policy-based consulting firm, Intrepidity, LLC in January 2019 where he advises a portfolio of technology startups and serves as Chairman of the US Board of Advisors for NTT DOCOMO.

In March 2022, Gallagher took over as President & CEO of the Washington Policy Center, the leading free market think tank in Washington State.

Internet governance

Gallagher has opposed the proposals by the United Nations' Working Group on Internet Governance to remove the Internet and the Domain Name System (DNS) from the United States' control. The proposals were discussed at the World Summit on the Information Society in November 2005. Gallagher believes in private sector control of DNS.

References

Portions of this biography were taken from the White House's biography of Gallagher.