Ellen Lord
Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment
Ellen Lord earned an undergraduate degree in chemistry from Connecticut College. She earned a Master of Science degree in chemistry from the University of New Hampshire.
She has more than 30 years of experience in the defense industry, serving in a variety of capacities in both the business and government sectors. Among other things, she was vice president of integration management for Textron Systems and vice president of intelligence battlefield systems for Textron Defense Systems.
She is a former Vice Chairman of the National Defense Industrial Association, as well as a former Director of the U.S.-India Business Council. She served on the Board of Trustees of the U.S. Naval Institute Foundation.
In the five years prior to her current appointment, Ms. Lord served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Textron Systems Corporation, leading a multi-billion dollar business.
Confirmed by the Senate in August 2017, Lord currently serves as the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment.
In the News…
Following a series of delays, not the least of which was for workplace restrictions as a result of the COVID-19 virus, March of next year should be the time the F-35 will finally go into full production.
“I am confident that we are going to meet the March date,” said Ellen Lord, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisitions and Sustainment.
She will be traveling to Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, with the Pentagon’s director of operational test and evaluation, to check on issues with the Joint Simulation Environment (JSE) facility for flight operations testing. She said the trip is necessary to “understand exactly where we are” on the ability to run the JSE and get to full production.
“There have been setbacks with the JSE” on getting full production for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the most expensive weapons system ever purchased by the Pentagon, at $398 billion thus far.
