(Washington, DC) – The District of Columbia Department of Small and Local Business Development (DSLBD) welcomed Ana Harvey on Monday as she began her first day as Acting Director of the Department.
Harvey comes to DSLBD eager to bolster and promote the programs and services made available by the Department for small businesses in the District. Prior to her career in public service, Harvey was a small business owner herself. She grew her small translation services company to a highly successful multilingual communications company with clients from Fortune 500 companies, government agencies and nonprofit organizations.
“As a female entrepreneur, I am very familiar with the challenges of starting, financing and growing a business. Finding resources to achieve business goals should not be one of them,” said Director Harvey. “I am grateful to Mayor Bowser for the opportunity to lead the Department of Small and Local Business Development and improve the environment for small businesses in the District of Columbia.”
Harvey is also an experienced public sector executive. As a former president and CEO of the Greater Washington Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Harvey helped the organization increase access to capital and federal and local contracts to its membership. Harvey was also appointed by President Barack Obama in 2009 to serve as the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Assistant Administrator for Office of Women’s Business Ownership. During her tenure at SBA, Harvey directed and oversaw the agency’s efforts to develop and implement programs to increase access to credit and capital to women business owners. At SBA, Harvey served as the regulator for the nationwide network of women's business centers that provide training and counseling to women entrepreneurs in every U.S. state and territory. The network of over 100 centers around the country, including the DC Women’s Business Center, assisted approximately 500,000 entrepreneurs during Harvey’s tenure. Also at SBA, Harvey designed and implemented collaborative programs between the agency and the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to increase access to capital to Hispanic entrepreneurs and supported the implementation of the women–owned business set aside program for federal procurement (also known as the 8m program).
Prior to her appointment to DSLBD, Harvey founded the HarveyHudson Group, a bank advisory group comprised of national experts in the areas of financial compliance, community reinvestment, and community engagement.
Harvey holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Houston and is a graduate of the Leadership Foundry, a program created by Women in Technology (WIT) to prepare senior executive women to serve on corporate boards.
About the District of Columbia Department of Small and Local Business Development
The District of Columbia Department of Small and Local Business Development (DSLBD) fosters the economic growth, development, and retention of District of Columbia based businesses, and promotes economic development throughout the District’s commercial districts. DSLBD envisions a business environment in which DC businesses are connected in real-time with local, federal, and global business opportunities; businesses navigate government quickly, confidently, and effectively; and, every entrepreneur and business with a great idea and a great plan has the capital to make it happen. For more information, go to dslbd.dc.gov or contact us at [email protected]. Follow DSLBD on Twitter at @SmallBizDC, or like our Facebook page www.facebook.com/smallbizdc.
