District Governor Ed Jellen is a California native born in Los Angeles, and a graduate of U.C. Berkeley and of U.C. Berkeley School of Law, also known as Boalt Hall.
After graduating from law school, Ed practiced law in San Francisco for 15 years. And then, in 1987, the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals appointed Ed to serve as a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge. He held that position for 25 years. Ed served seven of those years as Chief Judge of the nine-judge Northern District Bankruptcy Court. He has also served as Chair of the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Judge Education Committee and Chair of the Ninth Circuit Conference of Chief Bankruptcy Judges.
Additionally, Ed has served as a member of the adjunct faculties of both U.C. Berkeley and Stanford law schools, teaching courses in federal bankruptcy law.
Ed is a member of the Rotary Club of Oakland. He joined the club in 1997, several months after being invited to attend a meeting as the club’s guest luncheon speaker. Ed went on to serve as chair of many of the club’s committees, a member of its board of directors, and President during the club’s Centennial year, 2008-2009. At the District level, Ed has served, among other things, as Asst. Governor for Large Clubs, Asst. Governor for Area 1, and he was Chair of our 2013 District Conference in Napa.
During his years as a Rotarian, Ed has participated in numerous Rotary trips. These include visits to Ghana as part of District 5170's first polio eradication mission to that country; Vietnam and Cambodia, helping deliver school supplies and clothing to a number of orphanages; and Guatemala, where Oakland Rotary installed sanitary stoves and helped bring clean water to the Mayan village of Chibaquib.
Ed is an avid reader and crossword puzzler, loves American and English history, and also enjoys photography, bridge, and listening to 50's rock and roll music. He resides in Oakland with his wife, Julie, who works as a paralegal for a San Francisco law firm.