Herbert Claiborne Pell IV (born November 17, 1981) is an American

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

, military officer, and

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. He is a

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

and judge advocate in the United States Coast Guard Reserve, and served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for International and Foreign Language Education in the

United States Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a cabinet-level department of the United States government, originating in 1980. The department began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and ...

. He is the grandson of the late Senator

Claiborne Pell Claiborne de Borda Pell (November 22, 1918 – January 1, 2009) was an American politician and writer who served as a U.S. Senator from Rhode Island for six terms from 1961 to 1997. He was the sponsor of the 1972 bill that reformed the Basic ...

. Pell ran for the 2014 Democratic Party nomination for

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

in a competitive three-way race ultimately won by Rhode Island State Treasurer Gina Raimondo. As of June 2025, Pell is a judge to the United States Coast Guard Court of Criminal Appeals.

Early life and education

Pell was born to Herbert C. Pell III and Eugenia Stillman Diehl Pell on November 17, 1981, in

Tucson, Arizona Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

. Pell is the grandson of Senator

and Nuala Pell (a great-granddaughter of A&P grocery chain founder George Huntington Hartford and granddaughter of his son Edward V. Hartford). Through his grandfather, he is a direct descendant of Wampage I, a Siwanoy chieftain. Pell attended The Thacher School and graduated in 2000. He also attended the School Year Abroad (SYA) in Zaragoza, Spain (1999) and

Beijing, China Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

(2001). He graduated from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

in 2005 with high honors and a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in social studies. Pell also received a Citation in

Modern Standard Arabic Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) or Modern Written Arabic (MWA) is the variety of Standard language, standardized, Literary language, literary Arabic that developed in the Arab world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and in some usages al ...

from Harvard. Pell went on to graduate from

Georgetown University Law Center Georgetown University Law Center is the Law school in the United States, law school of Georgetown University, a Private university, private research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law ...

with a J.D. in 2008.Clay Pell confirms he may seek Democratic nomination for RI governor in 2014

Career

In 2009, Pell joined the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

and graduated first in his class from the Coast Guard Direct Commission Officer School. He served on active duty as a judge advocate from 2009 to 2011. He currently is a

and judge advocate in the United States Coast Guard Reserve. Pell served as Director for Strategic Planning on the National Security Staff, and was a White House Fellow from 2011 to 2012. In 2013, Pell served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Office of International and Foreign Language Education at the

. His support for language education and cultural proficiency was recognized by the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages which presented him with its Advocacy Award in 2014—an award Pell's grandfather received in 1988. On January 27, 2014, Pell confirmed he would run for Governor of Rhode Island in the 2014 election His then-wife,

Michelle Kwan Michelle Wingshan Kwan (born July 7, 1980) is a retired American competitive figure skating, figure skater and diplomat who served as List of ambassadors of the United States to Belize, United States Ambassador to Belize from 2022 to 2025. In ...

, appeared in TV ads on his behalf to garner support among female voters before the September 9th, 2014 primary. Pell placed third in the Democratic primary, which was won by Gina Raimondo. In 2016, Pell was elected as a presidential elector from Rhode Island and served as President of the Rhode Island Electoral College. In 2020, Stanford University awarded Pell the Sloan Fellowship at its Graduate School of Business.

Personal life

In January 2013, Pell married five-time world figure skating champion and two-time Olympic medalist

. The two first met in April 2011. In 2017, Pell announced in a statement that he had filed for divorce from Kwan. Pell speaks English, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, and some Russian.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pell, Clay American military lawyers Georgetown University Law Center alumni Harvard College alumni Living people Politicians from Providence, Rhode Island Politicians from Tucson, Arizona Rhode Island Democrats United States Coast Guard officers United States Department of Education officials 2016 United States presidential electors White House Fellows 1981 births The Thacher School alumni Lawyers from Tucson, Arizona Pell family