Cohen Group Adds Senior Defense Department Health Official

WASHINGTON, June 15 /PRNewswire/ -- The Cohen Group announced today that Ellen Embrey, former acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, has joined the firm as a Counselor effective June 1.

"Ellen brings deep expertise in health and medical issues, as well as a wealth of other experience gained during her federal service," said former Defense Secretary William S. Cohen, the firm's chairman.  

As acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs and the Director, TRICARE Management Activity, Ms. Embrey was responsible for leading and managing the Military Health System, a $47 billion per year defense health program employing more than 200,000 health professionals serving more than 9.6 million service members, retirees and their families in more than 70 hospitals and 500 clinics and laboratories around the globe.

Prior to that, Ms. Embrey was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Health Protection and Readiness, leading significant changes in Department of Defense policies and programs affecting deployment and combat casualty medicine, health promotion and preventive medicine, medical readiness and public health emergency preparedness and response.

From 1998-2001, Ms. Embrey was a senior official in the office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, shaping policies affecting the readiness and use of the National Guard and Reserve in both federal and state status.  For her last year there, she was the acting Assistant Secretary.  She focused on the role of the National Guard and Reserve components in supporting homeland security, disaster preparedness, and national disaster response capabilities, including advising President Bush on such matters in the days and weeks following September 11, 2001.

Between 1978-1997, Ms. Embrey served in senior-level policy analyst, budget analyst, program analyst, management analyst, and systems analyst positions in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, the Defense Contract Audit Agency, and the Office of Personnel Management.

Ms. Embrey was recognized with the Secretary of Defense's Distinguished Civilian Service Award in 2001 and 2004, and twice received the Meritorious Executive Presidential Rank Award in 2006 and 2009.

Ms. Embrey is also President and Chief Executive Officer of Stratitia, Inc., a consulting firm focused on developing meaningful and innovative strategies, and delivering supporting tools and partnerships to bring them successfully to life.

The Cohen Group is a global strategic advisory firm led by former Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen. It was founded in 2001 to help multinational business clients explore opportunities overseas as well as solve problems they may encounter.

Ellen Embrey joins a deep roster of senior talent at The Cohen Group which includes, among others:

• General Joseph Ralston, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff;
• Ambassador Marc Grossman, former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs and US Ambassador to Turkey;
• Ambassador Nicholas Burns, who succeeded Ambassador Grossman as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs and also served as Ambassador to NATO and Greece;
• Admiral James Loy, who served as Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and Commandant of the US Coast Guard;
• Lord George Robertson, who served as NATO Secretary General and the UK Defense Minister;
• General Paul Kern, who served as the Commander of the Army Materiel Command and the Senior Adviser for Army Research, Development and Acquisition;
• Lt. General Joe Yakovac, who served as Director of the Army Acquisition Corps and Military Deputy to the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology;
• Lt. General Harry Raduege, who served as Director of the Defense Information Systems Agency and Commander of the Joint Task Force Global Network Operations.

More About The Cohen Group:

The Cohen Group is comprised of more than 40 professionals with many decades of combined experience working in top-level positions in Congress, the White House, the State Department, the Defense Department, the Department of Homeland Security, the intelligence community, other federal agencies, and in European and Asian governments.

The Cohen Group provides its clients the insights and intelligence needed to better understand and shape the business, political, legal, regulatory, and media environments in which they operate. This includes both developing strategic business plans to help clients achieve their objectives, and actively participating with clients in the execution of those plans. The Cohen Group practice groups include Aerospace & Defense; Homeland Security; China; Information Technology; Telecommunications; Bio-technology; Strategic Communications; Transportation & Logistics; Financial Services & Investment; and Real Estate, serving clients in North America, East Asia, South Asia, Europe, Russia, Australia, Africa and Latin America.

The Cohen Group also has a strong strategic partnership with DLA Piper, an international law firm with over 3,700 lawyers and 68 offices in 30 countries throughout the world.

SOURCE The Cohen Group