Commissioner Bio
Lisa Disbrow
Appointed by the Honorable Lloyd Austin, Secretary of Defense
Hon. Lisa Disbrow has over 30 years of military and civil service in the national security sector, including the Department of Defense, the National Security Council, and the National Reconnaissance Office. Disbrow currently serves on the Board of Directors of Mercury Systems, Inc., Perspecta, BlackBerry, NobelReach, and the Wounded Warrior Project. She is an Appointed Member of the President’s Export Council, DOD’s Reserve Forces Policy Board, and is a Senior Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab.
Disbrow was the 25th Under Secretary of the Air Force from Jan 2015-July 2017, where she led a global organization of more than 660,000 personnel and an annual budget of over $135 billion. She led efforts to improve space system resiliency, increase and improve weapon system inventories, and increase operational readiness. Between the 2017 Presidential inauguration and confirmation of the new Secretary of the Air Force, she was 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, responsible for financial policy and execution of the Air Force budget. She served 19 years on the Joint Staff in multiple executive civilian 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 warfighting capabilities, global force management, and joint weapons system requirements.
From 2006-2007, she served on the National Security Council at the White House, contributing to major policy issues across the federal government. She was also previously a senior systems engineer at the National Reconnaissance Office responsible for developing requirements and programs to improve national intelligence support to deployed users.
Disbrow 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 plans. Disbrow was deployed in Operation Desert Storm/Southern Watch and supported operations in Bosnia.
Disbrow holds a Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia Charlottesville, a Master of Arts in International Affairs from George Washington University, and a Master of Science in National Security Strategy from the National War College.