Ms. Istel is a Managing Director on the Cerberus Ventures team. She focuses on multi-stage, deep-tech defense investments, particularly in the energy, biotech, and maritime sectors.
Ms. Istel joined Cerberus in 2025 after working as Deputy General Counsel and Bio & Energy Tech Lead for the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. She has spent her career working at the intersection of technology and national security, including working on both the House and Senate intelligence committees, as a senior associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, and as a visiting affiliate at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School. Ms. Istel also was a term member on the Council on Foreign Relations and clerked in the Southern District of New York and the Second Circuit.
She is a graduate of Princeton University and received her J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School.