Crystal Ellerbe is Vice President of Acorn Consulting, providing federal government strategic counsel to education, municipal, and private sector clients. She has served in leadership roles in successful government relations advocacy campaigns for over two decades, both in-house and as an external consultant.

Prior to joining Acorn Consulting, she was President of Ellerbe Government Affairs, LLC, and a senior vice president for federal relations at Strategies 360 Washington, DC office. There, she successfully developed a higher education and municipal practice. Crystal leveraged her expertise in delving into discretionary grant programs in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, and community project funding programs. Ms. Ellerbe utilized her relationships with many Congressional offices as well as authorizing and appropriation committee members and staff to secure critical funding for her municipal and higher education clients.

From 2012 to 2016, she served as the director of federal affairs for the University of New Orleans, developing federal priorities and helping to secure a major grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Crystal also spent nearly five years as director of government relations for commercial vehicle manufacturer Navistar, based in Chicago. At Navistar, she helped the company secure a $37 million truck efficiency research grant while also managing Navistar’s political action committee (PAC).

Her experience on Capitol Hill includes work as a legislative aide/assistant to former Senators Frank Murkowski (R-AK) and David Vitter (R-LA). Crystal is a native of the D.C. area and earned her B.A. in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland at College Park and a graduate-level certification in Congressional studies from the Legislative Studies Institute.