Michael Erlinger has been with Embassy Row since 2007, first as VP, Business Affairs and General Counsel before being promoted to his current position as SVP, Operations and Strategy.  As a member of the company’s executive committee, Erlinger is part of the Embassy Row management team and oversees all of the company’s business and legal affairs.  In his role as the company’s general counsel, Erlinger guided Embassy Row through the purchase and sale transaction to Sony Pictures Television in 2008.  Erlinger has negotiated all of the company’s development, talent, production and license deals throughout his tenure with the company, including projects for CBS, ABC, Bravo, Oxygen, GSN, TV Land, Food Network and BBC America.  Additionally, he has been responsible for the legal aspects of all of the company’s productions which have included contestants playing for the largest cash prize in television game show history, celebrities driving (and crashing) race cars around a NASCAR track at speeds close to 150 miles per hour, competitors scaling the side of the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas and the installation of hidden cameras in participants’ homes and workplaces.

Before joining Embassy Row, Erlinger was a Director, Business Affairs and Program Attorney at ABC Television where he first worked with Michael Davies and other members of the current Embassy Row team on several projects produced by Davies under his overall deal at ABC. Prior to his experience with ABC, Erlinger was an associate at the law firm of Pillsbury Madison & Sutro in Los Angeles, where he specialized in business, real estate and employment litigation.  Erlinger graduated from Georgetown University with a B.A. in Government and earned his J.D. from the UCLA School of Law.  He lives in New York City with his wife, Laura, and their two children.