Associate Principal Deputy Under Secretary for the Office of the Under Secretary for Science
Kristen Ellis currently serves as the Associate Principal Deputy Under Secretary for the Office of the Under Secretary for Science at the US Department of Energy. This office leads the Genesis Mission on behalf of the Federal government; a majority of DOE’s research portfolio; direct management of 10 of the Department’s national labs and multiple user facilities; and technology commercialization activities.
Most recently, she served as Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Regulatory and Policy Affairs within the US Department of Energy’s Environmental Management (EM) Office with a portfolio that included infrastructure disposition, subsurface closure, regulatory compliance, waste and materials management and packaging and transportation.
Previously, she was the Director for Regulatory, Intergovernmental, and Stakeholder Engagement within EM, leading regulatory relationships, stakeholder and intergovernmental engagement. She has previously served as EM’s Senior Advisor for STEM and Talent Acquisition, assessing future STEM workforce needs. She led the DOE Office of Public affairs during a presidential transition.
As previous Chief of Staff for DOE Under Secretary for Science, she oversaw personnel, budgets, policy, media, and management of over $14 billion in Federal funding.
She has held leadership roles in the EM Office of External Affairs, the EM Intergovernmental Office and DOE's Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs.
She received her Juris Doctorate from the University of Baltimore School of Law and is licensed to practice in Maryland. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Western Maryland College, with concentrations in Communications and Journalism.
She resides in Virginia with her husband and two daughters. She is a volunteer with Girl Scouts of America.