Steffanie B. Easter
Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army
Acquistion, Logistics, and Technology
Ms. Steffanie B. Easter currently serves as the Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology following designation by President Barack Obama on November 16, 2016. In this role, Ms. Easter leads the execution of the Army’s acquisition function and the acquisition management system. Her responsibilities include providing oversight for the total life cycle management and sustainment of Army weapons systems and equipment from research and development through test and evaluation, acquisition, logistics, fielding, and disposition. Previously, Ms. Easter served as the Principal Deputy to the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology.
Prior to coming to the Army, she served as the Executive Director for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Program Office, Arlington, VA. The F-35 Lightning II Program is the Department of Defense’s initiative for defining affordable and sustainable fifth-generation strike aircraft. She has also served as the Assistant Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Manpower, Personnel, Training and Education, where she was the civilian executive advisor for the planning and programming of all manpower, personnel, training, and education resources, budgeting for Navy personnel and for developing the information systems and tools to effectively manage the Navy Total Force.
Ms. Easter is a 1985 graduate of North Carolina State University with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering. She holds a master’s degree in engineering management from the Catholic University of America and is a graduate of both the Defense Systems Management College (DSMC) and the NAVAIR Senior Executive Management Development Program. Ms. Easter was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in December 2002, has over 30 years of Federal Service. She was awarded the Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award in 2007, the Navy Superior Civilian Service Award in 2009, and the Navy Distinguished Civilian Service Award in 2013. She is also the recipient of the 2009 National Women of Color Award for Managerial Leadership, and the 2010 recipient of the Black Engineer of the Year Award for Professional Achievement.
Ms. Easter previously served as the Assistant Commander for Acquisition for Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) and executed acquisition responsibilities and management accountability for six program management offices and served as the leader of the NAVAIR Acquisition/ Program Management Competency, managing approximately 720 civilian and military personnel.
Ms. Easter served as the Deputy Program Executive Officer for Tactical Aircraft Programs (PEO-T) from December 2002 through January 2007. In this capacity, she was responsible for providing acquisition, engineering and technical services to the Navy for the F/A-18, EA-6B, EA-18G, E-2, C-2, Aircraft Protection Systems, Air Traffic Control Systems and Combat Identification programs.
The Honorable Ellen M. Lord
Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, United States Department of Defense
Senate Confirmed in August 2017, the Honorable Ellen M. Lord currently serves as the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (AT&L). In this capacity, she is responsible to the Secretary of Defense for all matters pertaining to acquisition; research and engineering; 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 has more than 30 years of experience in the defense industry, serving in a variety of capacities, to include Senior Vice President and General Manager of Textron Defense Systems, now Weapon & Sensor Systems; and Senior Vice President and General Manager of AAI Corporation, now known as Textron Systems’ Electronic Systems, Support Solutions, and Unmanned Systems businesses. Earlier in her career, Ms. Lord served as Vice President of Integration Management for Textron Systems and Vice President of Intelligent Battlefield Systems for Textron Defense Systems, in addition to other business and operations positions.
Ms. Lord 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 has served on the industry steering committee for the Center for New American Security’s (CNAS) task force on “Strategy, Technology and the Global Defense Industry,” as well as CNAS’s DoD-Industry collaborative project “Future Foundry: Forging New Industries for Defense,” which was formed to examine key technological trends and challenges facing the global defense industry. Ms. Lord has also served on the Board of Trustees of the U.S. Naval Institute Foundation.
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.