The Honorable Ellen Lord, former Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment (A&S) from 2017-2020, was responsible to the Secretary of Defense for all matters pertaining to acquisition; developmental testing; contract administration; logistics and materiel readiness; installations and environment; operational energy; chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons; the acquisition workforce; and the defense industrial base. Prior to this appointment, from October 2012-June 2017, Ms. Lord served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Textron Systems Corporation, a subsidiary of Textron Inc. In this role, she led a multi-billion-dollar business with a broad range of products and services supporting defense, homeland security, aerospace, infrastructure protection, and customers around the world. Ms. Lord earned a Master of Science degree in chemistry from the University of New Hampshire, as well as a Bachelor of Arts degree in chemistry from Connecticut College. Currently, she serves on the boards of AAR Corp., Parsons Corp., SES S.A., Trident Solutions, and Exiger while serving as a Senior Fellow at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab and a Senior Advisor at M.I.T. Lincoln Lab.