Lisa Stephens Disbrow (born September 29, 1962) is the former

United States Under Secretary of the Air Force The under secretary of the air force (USECAF, or SAF/US), sometimes referred to as the under secretary of the Department of the Air Force, is the second-highest ranking civilian official in the Department of the Air Force of the United States of ...

. From January 20 to May 16, 2017, she served as the Acting

United States Secretary of the Air Force The secretary of the Air Force, sometimes referred to as the secretary of the Department of the Air Force, (SecAF, or SAF/OS) is the head of the United States Department of the Air Force, Department of the Air Force and the service secretary for ...

until

Heather Wilson Heather Ann Wilson (born December 30, 1960) is the 11th President of the University of Texas at El Paso. She previously served as the 24th Secretary of the United States Air Force from 2017 through 2019, as the 12th president of the South Dak ...

assumed the office. Previously, Disbrow served as Acting Under Secretary of the Air Force from January 2015 until she was confirmed by the Senate as the Under Secretary in January 2016. She was also confirmed by the Senate and served as the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management and Comptroller from 2014 to 2016. She currently serves as a member of the

President's Export Council The President's Export Council (PEC) is an American government organization that serves as the principal national advisory committee on international trade. The Council advises the president of the United States on policies and programs that affect ...

. Disbrow graduated from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

in 1984 and served as an officer in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

working primarily in

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...

. In 1992, after

Operation Desert storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

, she left active service and continued to serve in the

US Air Force Reserve The Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) is a major command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force, with its headquarters at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. It is the federal Air Reserve Component (ARC) of the U.S. Air Force, consisting of commis ...

. She continued her intelligence work both in her civilian work as a senior systems engineer for the

National Reconnaissance Office The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is a member of the United States Intelligence Community and an agency of the United States Department of Defense which designs, builds, launches, and operates the reconnaissance satellites of the U.S. f ...

and in her AF reserve role. From 1995 to 2014, Disbrow held a variety of positions on the

Joint Staff The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, which advises the president of the United States, the United States Secretary of Defense, secretary of defense, ...

as a senior civilian, including the Joint Staff Vice Director for Force Structure, Resources and Assessment. While assigned to the Joint Staff, from 2006 to 2007 Disbrow was detailed to the president's National Security Advisor as the special advisor for policy implementation and execution at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

. She assisted in planning and implementing the National Security Strategy and advised the White House on issues across the federal government. Her twenty-three years of uniformed service culminated in 2008 when she retired as a

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

from the Air Force Reserve while serving as special assistant to the director of programs, Headquarters Air Force. Disbrow resigned her position as Under Secretary of the Air Force on June 30, 2017. Disbrow currently serves as a Director on the Board of Mercury Systems; BlackBerry; the Sequa Corp and she Chairs the Board for Hensoldt, Inc. In 2022 when LMI sold its for-profit subsidiary, which retained the LMI name, the remaining entity was re-branded as the nonprofit NobleReach Foundation. Lisa Disbrow became the chair of the NobleReach board. She is a Senior Fellow at the

Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (or simply Applied Physics Laboratory, or APL) is a not-for-profit university-affiliated research center (UARC) in Howard County, Maryland. It is affiliated with Johns Hopkins University ...

and serves on the board of the Wounded Warrior Project.

References

External links

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Disbrow, Lisa 1962 births Living people People from Clifton Forge, Virginia United States Department of Defense officials Women government officials United States Secretaries of the Air Force United States Under Secretaries of the Air Force Women in the United States Air Force