Clarifai announced on Friday that Ellen Lord, former under secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment and four-time Wash100 Award winner, has joined the company as senior advisor and member of its Public Sector Advisory Council. Lord will use her vast public and private experience to assist Clarifai in achieving business success and growth.
"I have been impressed with the breadth and applicability of Clarifai's artificial intelligence technology. I'm looking forward to collaborating with Clarifai in helping government agencies enhance intelligence, scale operations efficiently and reduce risks," Lord commented.
As undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, Ellen was responsible for all matters related to acquisition for the Department of Defense (DOD). She drove significant policy changes focused on simplicity and speed of hardware and software procurement.
Before serving as an undersecretary, Ellen was president and CEO of Textron Systems. At Textron, she commercialized a wide range of products and services that supported defense, homeland security, aerospace and infrastructure protection.
Ellen is a vice-chairman of the National Defense Industrial Association and 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," along with CNAS's DOD-Industry collaborative project ‘Future Foundry.’
She holds an MS degree in chemistry from the University of New Hampshire. Ellen served on the Board of Trustees of the U.S. Naval Institute Foundation.
"Ellen Lord brings a wealth of experience to Clarifai gained over 30 years serving the defense industry, including her most recent tenure leading all matters relating to acquisition for the Department of Defense,” commented Dr. Matt Zeiler, Clarifai's CEO.
"We're humbled by the opportunity to work with Ellen to bring Clarifai's artificial intelligence capabilities to serve the missions of the U.S. Government with state-of-the-art commercial technology,” added Zeiler.
