LEADERSHIP
Mr. Farooq A. Mitha
Director
Mr. Farooq A. Mitha currently serves as the Director of the Department of Defense (DoD) Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP). As Director, Mr. Mitha oversees more than $140 billion of annual awards to small business. In addition, he assists the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Secretaries of Military Departments, Under Secretaries of Defense, Directors of Defense Agencies and Major Commands in including small business planning into the readiness of the Department. These efforts aim to modernize and restore the nation's industrial commons through focusing on advanced manufacturing, applied research, and innovative programs that align small business capabilities with the DoD's current and future needs.
Prior to his appointment, Mr. Mitha served as the President and CEO of Imbue Group, Inc., which provided the subject matter expertise to DoD's industrial base and innovation programs on small business programs, supply chain risk, defense procurement policy, utilization of other transactional authorities, engaging small businesses within the national security technology and industrial base, and advanced manufacturing.
In his previous time at the Department of Defense, Mr. Mitha led several programs and initiatives that have increased the visibility of small business within DoD, modernized programs to infuse small business capability into major defense acquisition programs and increased effective dialogue with industry.
Mr. Mitha has a strong background in international policy and national security. He is fluent in Arabic and published opinion-editorials offering commentary on issues concerning the Middle East and the American political system. In 2009, Mr. Mitha was a Fulbright Fellow in Amman, Jordan where he coordinated a Track II diplomacy conference and conducted research on economic reform in the Middle East. Mr. Mitha has also lectured at domestic and international universities on economic reform in the Middle East, U.S. policy in the Middle East, and civic engagement.
Mr. Mitha obtained his law degree from the University of Florida Levin College of Law and holds a B.S. degree in Interdisciplinary Health Sciences from the University of South Florida.
Ms. Kasey Diaz
Deputy Director
Ms. Diaz currently serves as the Deputy Director for the Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP) and Director for the Department of Defense Mentor-Protégé Program (MPP). Amassing close to 30 years of institutional knowledge, Ms. Diaz dutifully services as the principal advisor to the OSBP Director on all small business industrial base and policy related matters. Additionally, Ms. Diaz serves as the Director for Business Operations, where she manages the strategic and tactical priorities of the office. Moreover, as the Director of OSBP Business Operations, Ms. Diaz oversees all financial requirements. She leads the OSBP teams overseeing the Indian Incentive and Rapid Integrated Scalable Enterprise (formerly known as Rapid Innovation Fund) programs.
She is a staunch believer that our collective energies continue to be the basis of the small business mission. The strengthening of the Defense Industrial Base, together with our small business programs, APEX Accelerators, and with the hard work of each small business professional, the OSBP serves to maximize contributions of small businesses to our nation’s defense and national security.
Beginning her tenure in 1997, Ms. Diaz began as a federal contractor in the OSBP, working tirelessly in support of the Mentor-Protégé Program. She provided invaluable program management support to the federal government. Quickly, upon her transition into the federal workspace, Ms. Diaz was instrumental in the construction of the Small Business Programs Workforce Development Training, currently offered through the Defense Acquisition University (DAU). Ms. Diaz has more than 27 years of experience in technical, programmatic, administrative and management assistance in support of DoD as a subject-matter expert on small business and acquisition policies, procedures, and related matters at the major command level.
Ms. Diaz trusts that the recent codification of the Mentor-Protégé Program (MPP) in 2023, after a thirty-year pilot program, is not only a source of pride, joy, and accomplishment for her professionally, but also in consideration of its long history and the overall impact it has had on the small business community, she is honored to know that her advocacy and commitment to the program will live-on.
Ms. Diaz holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, among numerous acknowledgments and commendations spanning close to 30 years of federal service.
Mr. Khalil Mack
Deputy Director
Mr. Mack currently serves as Deputy Director of the Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP) and Director of APEX Accelerators. As part of the OSBP leadership team, he oversees Industry Engagement, Strategic Communications, Policy, Industrial Cybersecurity, Small Business Risk, and the APEX Accelerators program.
With 97 offices across 49 states and territories, APEX Accelerators provide a critical front door for business and industry to help to expand suppliers to the federal, state, and local government marketplaces and provide opportunities for companies new to government contracting to acquire the skills and know-how to compete.
The work Accelerators do with businesses, in concert with their partners, strengthens the defense industrial base by accelerating innovation, fostering ingenuity, and establishing resilient and diverse supply chains. The result is the creation of a domestic industrial base that can deliver preeminent solutions to the military and other government users.
Mr. Mack previously held the position of Associate Director of Policy, where he was the principal advisor to the OSBP Director on small business industrial base related policy, regulation, and legislation. His experience also includes serving as Branch Chief for the Rapid Prototyping Acquisition Branch at the Washington Headquarters Services Acquisition Directorate, where he planned and executed non-FAR based acquisitions, including Other Transactions (OTs), and in various contracting roles for the Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM).
Prior to becoming a federal civilian, Mr. Mack was a consultant, specializing in acquisition and finance, for several federal agencies including the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Mr. Mack earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from Hampton University, and a Master of Business Administration from the George Washington University. He is also a graduate of the Procurement and Contracts Management Certificate program at the University of Virginia.
Mr. Anup Rao
Chief of Staff
Mr. Rao currently serves as the Chief of Staff to the Director of the Department of Defense (DoD) Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP).
Prior to joining DoD OSBP, Mr. Rao previously held the position of Congressional Affairs Coordinator for the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy, managing the legislative operations of a new ASD-ship with five directorates across small business, industrial base sectoral analyses, Defense Production Act programs, international cooperation programs, economic security and investment programs, and microelectronics investments.
Prior to working within the DoD, he worked on Capitol Hill for the late U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) on foreign policy, defense, veterans’ issues.
Mr. Rao earned his Bachelor of Science degree, in Neuroscience, from the University of California at Los Angeles and his M.A. in Diplomacy and International Relations from Seton Hall University.
Dr. Jacqueline Charles
Associate Director
As the Associate Director of Policy, Subcontracting, and Workforce Development, Dr. Charles serves as the Principal Advisor to the Director on small business industrial base related policy,
Prior to joining the DoD OSBP, Dr. Charles served as a Product Support Manager in the Combat Data Systems Program Office within the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program. Dr. Charles advised on logistics policies. She led efforts to sustain various software and hardware tools that Combat Data Systems provides to its operational units that are responsible for developing combat mission data files with the latest capabilities for the F-35. She also held other key leadership roles in her 24 year career in support of various DoD acquisition and sustainment programs.
Dr. Charles earned her PhD in Education with a specialization in Leadership for Higher Education and a MBA with a specialization in Global Operations and Supply Chain Management from Capella University. She is also a member of the Defense Acquisition Corps.
Mr. Derrick Davis
Associate Director
Mr. Davis currently serves as the Associate Director for Industrial Cyber Security for the Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP). He directly oversees several programs in support of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), including the Project Spectrum cybersecurity outreach initiative. Mr. Davis provides strategic leadership for several teams of communications, cybersecurity, and program-support professionals. He utilizes his extensive experience with national security technology and policy strategy to direct cybersecurity compliance, supply chain analysis, technology development and integration, and program support.
Prior coming to becoming a federal civilian, Mr. Davis worked as a technology strategist in the private sector where he held key leadership positions. Mr. Davis attended Oklahoma State University where he did his doctoral research in Cyber Security Governance. Also, Mr. Davis attended the University of Maryland Baltimore County where he earned his Master of Science in Information Systems.
Ms. Carla Johnson
Associate Director
As the Associate Director for the Indian Incentive Program, a congressionally sponsored program that provides a 5 percent rebate to a prime contractor on the total amount subcontracted to a Native American owned Economic Enterprise or Native American Organization in accordance with DFARS Clause 252.226-7001.
Previously, Ms. Johnson managed the Subcontracting portfolio, directly supporting the Office of Small Business Program’s (OSBP) mission by striving to fulfill present fiscal year goals in prime contracting and subcontracting, as well as tracking DoD's performance history.
Prior to joining OSBP, Ms. Johnson worked in CFIUS as a member of the International Outreach and Strategic Engagement Team. She has also held positions in OUSD/Acquisition and Sustainment as the Contracts Lead, Project Manager for Business Systems, and Resource Manager for the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Command, Control, and Communication (C3), Cyber, and Business Systems.
Ms. Johnson has also served in a number of leadership positions in the DoD, in support of project management, contracting, budgeting and financial management, as well as private industry where she served as Budget Director for Radio Free Asia (RFA) and Senior Program Analyst with Northrop Grumman.
Dr. Bryson Reynolds
Associate Director
Dr. Bryson Reynolds is the Associate Director for Small Business Risk and Analysis in the Department of Defense’s Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP). Dr. Reynolds oversees efforts to address foreign, ownership, control, or influence (FOCI) risk to small businesses in the defense industrial base, through FOCI education, risk mitigation, and tool demonstration.
Prior to joining DoD OSBP, Dr. Reynolds worked in neuroscience research at the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University and in STEM education at the Vanderbilt Center for Science Outreach. Dr. Reynolds earned his BS degree in Psychology from Middle Tennessee State University, and his PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Virginia.