 Ellis served as chair of the Economic Redevelopment Committee, where he advocated policies to spur economic development in Houston.He called for the creation of a new think tank and city Department of Commerce to coordinate and streamline city economic development policies, worked to save city and taxpayer investments in projects such as the Palm Center and Mercado del Sol shopping center, and pushed to expand low-interest loans to small businesses.Ellis pushed to rename Houston Intercontinental Airport after Mickey Leland, following his death on an anti-hunger mission to Ethiopia.