Leadership Directory
Ellen E. Bell, Chief of Staff and Executive Officer for Policy, Strategic Initiatives and Outreach
Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, RITA/USDOT
617/494-2491 | ellen.bell@dot.gov
Ellen Bell serves as the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center's Chief of Staff and Executive Officer for Policy, Strategic Initiatives and Outreach. As a senior advisor to Volpe Center Directors for over a decade, Ellen works on a wide range of high profile transportation policy, management and communications issues and is responsible for providing leadership to a spectrum of Departmental, agency, and other key initiatives – both internal and external to the Volpe Center. She also maintains liaison with offices throughout the U.S. Department of Transportation and the broader Federal and transportation community. Ellen served in the Office of the Secretary of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in Washington, D.C. and the Massachusetts state department of transportation in Boston. She also served as U.S. DOT's Executive Agent on the White House Office of Science and Technology's extensive transportation strategic planning effort and was a major contributor to the nation's first-ever National Science and Technology Strategy for Transportation Research and Technology issued by the White House. Her contributions to U.S. DOT have been recognized by several awards from Secretaries of Transportation and the highest awards granted by the Administrators of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration and the Research and Special Programs Administration. Ellen graduated from Stonehill College with a BA in political science and Harvard University with a Master of Liberal Arts in Extension Studies, government concentration.
