Speakers

Ms. Lisa R. Sanders is the Director of Science and Technology for Special Operations Forces, Acquisition, Technology & Logistics (SOF AT&L), U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), MacDill Air Force Base, Florida.  She is responsible for all pre-program of record research and development funded activities. Ms. Sanders has over 35 years of civilian Federal service.

Ms. Sanders entered Federal Service as an Electronics Engineer at Naval Avionics Center in Indianapolis, Indiana after answering a newspaper ad.  She survived a base closure in 1996, transferring to Naval Air Warfare Center, Patuxent River, MD, then transferred to USSOCOM in Tampa, FL in 2005, eventually being selected as a Defense Intelligence Senior Leader (DISL) in 2016, after a tour on the Air Force Staff in the Pentagon from 2015 – 2016.

Ms. Sanders has lived the challenge of work-life balance, having raised two children as a single mother, going back to school (twice) as a full-time employee, and serving in a number of volunteer roles (scout leader, martial arts instructor, church leader, etc). She sums up her experience by the term “resilience”, which will be a key theme of her presentation today.

EDUCATION

   GMI Engineering & Management Institute, Flint, MI -Bachelor of Science, Mechanical Engineering, 1987

     St. Leo University, St. Leo, FL - Master’s, Business Administration, 2010

    Senior Service College Fellowship, Aberdeen MD – Senior Professional Military Education, 2015.