Lisa Disbrow
Former Under Secretary of the Air Force
Management and Governance, Resourcing and Financial Management
Contact Information
Lisa Disbrow
Former Under Secretary of the Air Force
Management and Governance, Resourcing and Financial Management
Contact Information
Retired from federal government in 2017 with over 32 years of total military and civilian service. Currently on Board of Directors of Mercury Systems (MRCY); BlackBerry (BB); CACI (CACI); SparkCognition; NobleReach Foundation (Board Chair); Wounded Warrior Project and National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA). Senior Fellow, Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Lab. One of DOD’s two Commissioners on Congress’ PPBE Commission. Previously served on the Board of Perspecta, Inc (PSRP), Chaired the Board of LMI, and Chaired the Mitre Air Force Advisory Board.
The 25th Under Secretary of the Air Force from Jan 2015-Jun 2017, she led a global organization of more than 660,000 personnel with an annual budget of over $135 billion dollars. After the January 2017 Presidential inauguration and before confirmation of the new AF Secretary, she was the Acting Secretary of the Air Force and the Secretary of Defense’s Principal DOD Space Advisor.
Prior to these positions, she was the Senate-confirmed Financial Management & Comptroller of the Air Force, the chief financial officer responsible for developing and executing the AF budget and five-year program plan. She served 19 years on the Joint Staff in multiple executive positions including Vice Director of the Joint Staff J-8 Directorate where she advised the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Joint Requirements Oversight Council on joint warfighting requirements, acquisition, global force management, warfighting assessments, and joint budget prioritization. Throughout her tenure, she co-led development of National Defense Strategies, the Congressionally-directed DOD Quadrennial Defense Reviews, and DOD Roles and Missions reviews.
From 2006-2007, she reported to the National Security Advisor to the President as Special Advisor for Policy Implementation across the federal government. In the early 1990s, she was a senior systems engineer at the National Reconnaissance Office responsible for developing requirements and programs to improve national intelligence support to deployed users.
She retired from military service in 2008 as a Colonel with over 23 years of combined active duty and part- time reserve duty in operations/signals/electronic intelligence; programming; and operational planning. She deployed in Operation Desert Storm/Southern Watch and supported operations in Bosnia.
M.S. National Military Strategy; National Defense University, Washington, DC; 2012
M.A. International Relations; George Washington University, Washington, DC; 1990
B.A. Foreign Affairs; University of Virginia, Charlottesville VA; 1984