Michele A. Pearce is a distinguished American attorney with over two decades of experience in military service and government roles, specializing in national security and defense law. She currently serves as Senior Counsel at Xona Space Systems, focusing on government contracts and compliance related to space systems.
Pearce's notable public service includes her tenure as Acting General Counsel and Principal Deputy General Counsel of the U.S. Army from 2020 to 2021. In these roles, she provided legal and policy guidance on critical issues such as modernization of acquisition practices, implementation of artificial intelligence and hypersonic systems, and reforms in ethics and diversity programs. Prior to this, she served as Deputy General Counsel (Legislation) at the Department of Defense, advising senior officials on legislative matters and overseeing the Department's Legislative Review Program.
Her Capitol Hill experience encompasses roles as Senior Defense Advisor to Senator Susan Collins and as Staff Lead and Counsel for various subcommittees of the House Armed Services Committee. Pearce's military career in the U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate General's Corps spanned from 1996 to 2009, during which she held positions such as Military Assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force and served in the Iraq War.
A native of Marine City, Michigan, Pearce earned her A.B. from Mount Holyoke College and her J.D. from the University of Connecticut School of Law. She is admitted to the bars of North Carolina and the District of Columbia and is registered as In-House Counsel in California.