Lisa Ellman

Lisa Ellman is a Counsel in the Washington, DC office of McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP and serves as co-chair of the firm's Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Practice Group. She is a member of the firm's Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs practice and serves on the Federal Government Affairs team. Ellman uses her experience in the Federal government to help bridge the sizable knowledge gap between government policymaking and business innovation. In November 2014, Ellman gave a TEDx talk about "polivation" – a new approach to balancing the needs of innovators and policymakers that will enable society to make good use of new technologies, including commercial and private UAS, in a way that wins the public's trust and serves its interests. Ellman brings deep substantive experience and perspective in law and policy at the top levels of the Executive branch in positions both at the White House and the U.S. Department of Justice. As a presidential appointee in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Policy, Ms. Ellman worked to develop and implement policy initiatives of high priority to the Obama Administration. Most recently, Ellman led the Department's Working Group on Domestic Use of UAS. She also represented the Justice Department in the interagency process considering UAS-related policy issues that are shared across departments and agencies. Ellman has served in senior positions within three White House agencies: the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Office of Management and Budget / Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), and the Office of Presidential Personnel (PPO).