Nancy Brinker, Michael Brown, and Ellen Lord Join CNAS Board of Advisors

Washington, September 27, 2022—The Center for a New American Security is pleased to welcome Nancy Brinker, Michael Brown, and Ellen Lord to its Board of Advisors.

"Nancy, Mike, and Ellen are trusted thought leaders whose insights will help CNAS craft solutions to the most pressing national security challenges we face," said Richard Fontaine, Chief Executive Officer of CNAS. “It is a pleasure to welcome these esteemed professionals to our Board of Advisors.”

Nancy Brinker has been described as the leader of the global breast cancer movement. In 1982, shortly after her sister Susan’s death from breast cancer at the age of 36, Brinker founded Susan G. Komen®. Today, Komen is the largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists in the world. Brinker is also the founder of the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure® series and the Promise Fund of Florida. Brinker is a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. In 2009, Brinker was named Goodwill Ambassador for Cancer Control for the United Nations’ World Health Organization. She served as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Hungary and as U.S. Chief of Protocol from 2007-2009, where she was responsible for overseeing all protocol matters for visiting heads of state and presidential travel abroad.

Michael Brown is a visiting scholar at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University. Brown previously served four years (2018-2022) as the Director of the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) at U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). During his tenure, DIU introduced 100 new vendors to DoD, fielded 50 new capabilities to the military and increased the transition rate of fielded capabilities to 50%. He also led the initiative for a new Defense Department-sponsored investment vehicle, National Security Innovation Capital (NSIC) to fund dual-use hardware technology companies. From 2016 to 2018, Brown served as a White House Presidential Innovation Fellow. Prior to civil service, Brown was the CEO of Symantec Corporation (2014-2016), the global leader in cybersecurity and the world’s 10th largest software company. He is also the former Chairman and CEO of Quantum Corporation (1995-2003) and Chairman of EqualLogic (2003-2008).

Ellen Lord is a defense industry participant whose career has spanned the c-suite to the federal government. Lord has more than 30 years of corporate experience in the automotive and defense industries, serving in a variety of capacities, including as President and Chief Executive Officer of Textron Systems Corporation, a subsidiary of Textron Inc. from 2012-2017. 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. From 2017-2021, Lord served as the first U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, leading the DoD’s personnel, policy and processes for acquisition of products and services, lifecycle sustainment and the security and resiliency of the defense industrial base. After leaving this role in January 2021, Lord established EML Enterprises, LLC, providing advisory services that leverage her industry and government experience.

For more information, contact Cameron Edinburgh at comms@cnas.org or call 202-457-9425.