NATIONAL Small Business Week

NATIONAL Small Business Week

May 20-26, 2012 in Washington, DC

Join us for an event that honors and empowers small businesses nationwide

The National Small Business Week Conference, hosted by the Small Business Administration, has been recognizing the special impact made by outstanding American entrepreneurs and small business owners since 1963.

Connect. Collaborate. Share. Network.

Meet and connect with leaders in the small business community. Grow your business network and get inspired!

A 3–day networking and educational event

National Small Business Week 2012 is a two and a half day conference in Washington, D.C. focusing on small business accomplishments, including disaster recovery, procurement and entrepreneurial success. This schedule is not final and is subject to change

Conference location

Mandarin Oriental Hotel & Conference Center

1330 Maryland Avenue, SW,
Washington, DC 20024, USA

+1(202)554 8588

Speakers

Karen Mills

SBA

Administrator

Karen Gordon Mills was sworn in April 6, 2009, as the 23rd Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration after being appointed by President Barack Obama and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. She leads a team of more than 2,200 employees whose mission is to help entrepreneurs and small business owners grow and create jobs by providing greater access to capital, counseling, federal contracting opportunities, disaster assistance and more. 

Among its priorities, the SBA has a portfolio of more than $90 billion in loan guarantees, and each year helps leverage nearly $100 billion in federal contracts to small businesses and supports free counseling and technical assistance to more than 1.2 million entrepreneurs.

Throughout her career, Mills has owned, managed, mentored, and invested in small and growing businesses across the country.

As an investor and owner, she helped several small manufacturers improve their competitiveness and ultimately survive the downturn of the early 1990s. This included producers of hardwood flooring, refrigerator motor manufacturers, plastic injection molding companies, and more. More recently, she was President of the MMP Group, which invested and grew businesses in sectors such as consumer products, food, textiles, and industrial components.

In 2007, Maine Gov. John Baldacci appointed Mills to chair the state's Council on Competitiveness and the Economy, where she focused on attracting investment in rural and regional development initiatives, including a regional economic cluster with Maine’s boatbuilding industry. She also served on the Governor’s Council for the Redevelopment of the Brunswick Naval Air Station.

In her current position, Mills has helped expand access to capital through SBA lending, increase small business’ share of federal contracts, strengthen SBA's network of more than 14,000 affiliated counselors, and oversee critical disaster assistance operations across the country.

Mills earned an A.B. in economics from Harvard University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School where she was a Baker Scholar. Additionally, she served as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and was vice chairman of the Harvard Overseers.

She and her husband, Barry Mills, president of Bowdoin College, live in Brunswick, Maine. They have three sons.

Speaking at:

• Opening Reception 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 20
• Town Hall - Creating a Small Business Economy to Last 10:00 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. on Monday, May 21
• National Awards Luncheon Honoring State Small Business Winners 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Monday, May 21

Marie Johns

SBA

Deputy Administrator

Marie Johns is Deputy Administrator of the US Small Business Administration, where she contributes to management of the agency and development of SBA policy. Johns was nominated by President Obama on December 17th, 2009 and confirmed by unanimous consent in the Senate on June 22nd, 2010.

Prior to becoming Deputy Administrator, Johns was the Managing Member of L&L Consulting, LLC, an organizational effectiveness and public policy consulting practice. Previously, she served as President of Verizon Washington, where she was responsible for nearly 2000 employees and more than 800,000 customers, including many small businesses. Johns worked to develop products and services to meet the needs of Verizon’s small business customers, and worked closely with Verizon’s vendors, suppliers, and subcontractors, some of whom were SBA borrowers. She retired from Verizon in 2004 after 21 years of service in the telecommunications industry.

Johns has a long record of business and civic leadership. She is the founder of the Washington DC Technology Council, former chair of Leadership Greater Washington, and a member of the board of the Girl Scouts USA. Johns served for 10 years as a trustee at Howard University, where she chaired the Academic Excellence Committee. Johns also served as the founding chair of the Howard University Middle School of Mathematics and Science. As chair of the DC Chamber of Commerce, as well as chair of its Small Business Committee, Johns helped small businesses get technical assistance and mentoring from larger area firms, and helped create a Visitors Center to encourage tourists to explore more of Washington’s many vibrant neighborhoods and visit local small businesses.

While at Verizon Washington, Johns created the Students Educated for Economic Development Success program (SEEDS). SEEDS prepared over 200 high school dropouts for entry-level positions in the telecommunications industry, many of whom were hired by small local firms.

Johns earned her BS and MPA degrees from Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs, and was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Trinity University in Washington, D.C. She is the recipient of many awards in recognition of her business and civic leadership. Among her honors, Johns was recognized as a “Leader of the Years” by the Greater Washington Board of Trade, one the of “25 Most Influential Black Women in Business” by the Network Journal and one of the “100 Most Powerful Women” by Washingtonian Magazine. In 2004, Johns was inducted in the Greater Washington Business Hall of Fame.

Johns has been married for 40 years to Wendell Johns. They reside in Washington, DC, and have one son, Richard, an attorney in private practice in Washington, DC and Maryland. They are the proud grandparents of Richard Franklin II and Lauren Marie Johns.

  
Speaking at:

• Champion Awards Gala 7:30p.m. - 11:00p.m. on Tuesday, May 22

Andrew Sullivan

Prudential Group Insurance

Senior Vice President, Small Market Business

As senior vice president of Small Market Business, Andrew F. Sullivan is responsible for the profit and loss performance of the Small Market Business, as well as developing business strategy, setting business goals, and identifying growth opportunities.

Open full bio

Prior to joining Group Insurance in 2011, Andy was accountable for the Individual and Senior Segments as a senior vice president with CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield.

During an eight-year tenure at CIGNA, he held several senior positions of increasing responsibility, which included accountability for the profitability and growth of its individual and small business segments, and leading work related to mergers and acquisitions for its healthcare, group insurance, and international business segments.

Earlier in his career, he served in management and operations positions at Diamond Technology Partners and DaimlerChrysler. Andy began his career in the Navy as a nuclear submarine officer. Among other citations, he was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal for superior leadership and performance on board the U.S.S. Nebraska. Andy graduated with Merit from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. He also earned an Executive Master of Business Administration from the University of Delaware.

Speaking at:

• Phoenix Awards Luncheon 1:00p.m. - 2:30p.m. on Tuesday, May 22

Angela Ruggiero

Olympic Ice Hockey Player

Four-time Medalist

Angela Ruggiero was first introduced to Ice Hockey at age seven when her father signed up her younger brother for his youth hockey league. When Ruggiero was 13, she joined an all-girl select team for the Los Angeles metro area. She then headed east to play at Choate Rosemary Hall. While still a high school senior at Choate Rosemary Hall, Ruggiero played on the gold medal-winning 1998 United States Olympic Hockey Team in Nagano, Japan. She was also a member of the silver medal-winning 2002 team in Salt Lake City, Utah.

From Choate and her first Olympic appearance, Ruggiero went on to attend Harvard and star on the Harvard women's hockey team. Her senior year at Harvard University, Ruggiero won the 2004 Patty Kazmaier Award as the top player in U.S. women's collegiate hockey. She graduated from Harvard cum laude in 2004 with a degree in government.

Ruggiero made several U.S. professional hockey "firsts" on January 28, 2005, when she played for the Tulsa Oilers in a Central Hockey League game against the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees. She was the first woman to actively play in a regular season professional hockey game in the United States at a position other than goalie. In addition, since her brother Bill Ruggiero also played for the Oilers, they were the first brother-sister combination to play professionally at the same time. Ruggiero was also credited with the game-winning goal in the shoot-out that won the 2005 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships for the United States against the Canadian national women's hockey team, winning the first gold medal ever for the United States at the world championship.

In December 2009, Ruggiero was named to her fourth Olympic team. As alternate team captain, she helped lead Team USA to a silver medal at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Later that same year, Ruggiero was elected to a highly regarded position as a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Athletes’ Commission. The commission serves as a consultative body and is the link between active athletes and the International Olympic Committee. Ruggiero will serve in this role until 2018. She was also later appointed to the IOC Evaluation Commission to evaluate potential host cities for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games.

Ruggiero is the author of a memoir, Breaking the Ice: My Journey to Olympic Hockey, the Ivy League & Beyond, published by Drummond Publishing Group in 2005. The book details her hockey career, including her experiences with misconceptions about women's hockey and the challenges of being a female player in a male-dominated sport.

In May 2006, Ruggiero was selected from a field of twelve Olympians to be a candidate on the sixth season of NBC's business-themed reality game show The Apprentice. The season debuted in January 2007. During Ruggiero's time on the show, many references were made to her Olympic and hockey experience. She was eliminated on the season's tenth episode, airing on March 25, 2007.

Ruggiero announced her retirement from professional hockey in December 2011. She recently received a Master’s degree in sports management from the University of Minnesota and continues to serve on the IOC Athletes’ Commission and on the board of directors for the United States Olympic Committee. Most recently, Ruggiero was named president-elect of the Women's Sport Foundation, beginning in April 2013.

Speaking at:

• Champion Awards Gala 7:30p.m. - 11:00p.m. on Tuesday, May 22

Brian Moran

Wall Street Journal

Executive Director of Sales Development

Brian Moran is the Executive Director of Sales Development at the Wall Street Journal. In his current role, Brian oversees the sales development and marketing programs for the financial and small business categories among the many Journal brands.

Open full bio

Prior to joining the Wall Street Journal, Brian was President of Veracle Media, a provider of relevant and practical information to business owners, helping them start, manage and grow their companies. Veracle Media published three national magazines for the small-to-midsize business market: Small Business Success, Urban Success and Winning Bids.

In addition to magazines, Veracle Media partnered with many leading small business organizations in running workshops, seminars and national conferences aimed at various segments of the small business market. Veracle Media also hosted www.SmallBusinessEdge.com, a web site dedicated to maintaining an ongoing dialogue between Veracle Media, its partners and business owners.

Prior to Veracle Media, Brian was President of Moran Media Group, the Associate Publisher at Inc. Magazine, a Publisher and Associate Publisher at Entrepreneur Media and held managment positions at Success Magazine and Medical Economics Magazine. In total, Brian has spent over 20 years assisting entrepreneurs in their pursuit of the American dream.

Brian is currently a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Small Business Council, a member of the CEO Advisory Board of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, a member of the Advisory Board of the Rothman Institute of Entrepreneurship Studies at FDU and a member of SCORE's National Marketing Council.

Brian is a graduate of Marquette University's School of Journalism.

Moderator at:

• Social Media Forum 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 22

Cathy Martine

AT&T

Executive Vice President - Small Business Solutions and Alternate Channels

Cathy Martine is the Executive Vice President in charge of Small Business Solutions and Alternate Channels, for the AT&T Business and Home Solutions organization. She leads a multi-billion-dollar business unit responsible for small business sales and indirect channels.

Cathy has 30 years experience in the telecommunications industry with extensive experience leading multiple business units. In addition, Cathy led the AT&T Merger Integration Implementation Team in conjunction with the acquisition of AT&T by SBC which closed November 2005. She was responsible for the development of the AT&T Business and Consumer VOIP portfolio of products and was selected as a member of the Forbes E-Gang in 2004. Cathy's memberships include; Friends of the National World War II Memorial, The Economic Club of Chicago, The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, The Chicago Network, Brooklyn Academy of Music, International Women’s Forum and Women of AT&T.

Cathy holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the College of Mount Saint Vincent in Riverdale, NY; a master’s degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she was a Sloan Fellow; and an MBA from New York University's Stern School of Business.

Recent awards and honors include being named by National Diversity Council as one of the “Most Powerful and Influential Women” of the Tri-State Area for leadership excellence; May 2010 SBA keynote speaker at the Phoenix Award luncheon at National Small Business Week Conference; September 2010 keynote speaker at Small Business Administration Breakfast presenting AT&T Innovator of the Year Award; launched Inaugural conference for AT&T Women Entrepreneurs' Forum in December 2010.

Cathy is married to Ron Dolecki, they have two children, Lauren and John. The family lives in Far Hills, N.J.

Speaking at:

• Town Hall - Small Businesses Creating an Economy to Last 10:00 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. on Monday, May 21

Connie Certusi

Sage

Executive Vice President and General Manager, Small Business Accounting Solutions

Connie Certusi is the general manager of Sage's Small Business Accounting Solutions (SBAS) business unit, which includes the Sage Peachtree and Sage Simply Accounting businesses, as well as the Sage Accountants Network.

Ms. Certusi's efforts are focused heavily on ensuring that all aspects of the accounting solutions business unit deliver a premium customer experience to small businesses as well as to key recommenders, such as accountants.

Prior to joining Sage, Ms. Certusi gained comprehensive experience in the financial software industry at MSA/Dun & Bradstreet Software, SQL Financials and Ross Systems. She spent 10 years with MSA/Dun & Bradstreet Software in various areas of product development, marketing and management.

Ms. Certusi holds a B.B.A. degree in management science from the University of Georgia.

Speaking at:

• National Awards Luncheon Honoring State Small Business Winners 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Monday, May 21

Dario Gomez

SBA, Office of International Trade Leadership

Associate Administrator

Dario J. Gomez oversees programs that support small business engagement and growth in international markets. His office works in cooperation with other federal agencies and public- and private-sector trade groups to promote trade opportunities, facilitate access to export financing, and represent the interests of small businesses in U.S. trade negotiations. Dario also directs the delivery of the SBA's export assistance programs via 19 U.S. Export Assistance Centers throughout the country.

Prior to his appointment at the SBA, Dario served as Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's Associate Director for Federal Affairs in his Washington DC office. He was responsible for representing the Mayor’s positions on federal issues including ports and goods movement; aviation; export promotion; and energy. Prior to this position, Dario was Mayor Villaraigosa’s Director of International Trade for Los Angeles. In this capacity, he was integral in bringing the Americas Business Forum to Los Angeles, which is an annual export matchmaking event with the Department of Commerce to help businesses export to Latin America. Also he was responsible for attracting foreign investment and raising the global profile of Los Angeles. In addition to his successes, he was successful in recruiting Chinese electric automaker, BYD to launch their North American headquarters in downtown Los Angeles.

From 1999-2001 Dario was a Presidential Appointee as a Congressional Specialist for Ambassador Charlene Barshefsky, the United States Trade Representative. During that time, he worked on such historic trade measures as Congressional approval for China's entry into the World Trade Organization, the African Growth and Opportunity Act, and the U.S.-Jordan Free Trade Agreement.

Prior to working for Barshefsky, Dario served on the White House staff in the Administration of President William Jefferson Clinton. Following his work in the Clinton Administration, Dario worked as a legislative liaison for the City of Los Angeles, where he helped secure federal funding for Los Angeles after school programs and public works projects. He also worked as a regional manager for the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation prior to joining the Mayor’s Office.

A Southern California native, Dario is a graduate of the IBEAR International MBA program at the University of Southern California, where he worked on global consulting projects for Fortune 100 companies involving the energy and telecommunications sectors. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Speaking at:

• Export Forum: Take Your Business Global 11:30a.m. - 12:45p.m. on Monday, May 21

Grande Lum

SBA

Director, HUBZone Program

Grande Lum is Director of the HUBZone Program for the U.S. Small Business Administration. Most recently he was Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Negotiation and Dispute Resolution (CNDR) at UC Hastings Law School. In 2010 for the first time ever, CNDR was ranked as one of the top law school dispute programs in the country by US News and World Report. He is a graduate of UC Berkeley and Harvard Law School.

Grande has experience consulting on complex transactions, equipping individuals, teams and institutions with negotiation methodologies and skills. His work included mediation, coaching, and advising for clients in the health care, biotech, pharmaceutical, information technology, and financial services industries. He has facilitated internal and external negotiations; mediated labor-management disputes; and advised on partnering and alliances. Grande has developed an online learning module in negotiation, produced a video on multi-party negotiations and published a number of articles on dispute resolution. He is the author of The Negotiation Fieldbook, published by McGraw-Hill.

Grande was the founder and Managing Director of Accordence, a dispute resolution consulting and training firm. Prior to founding Accordence, he was a founding member of ThoughtBridge, a national mediation firm. He was a partner with the consulting firm Conflict Management, Inc, which was co-founded by Harvard Law School Professor and Getting to Yes co-author Roger Fisher. Grande was a Teaching Fellow at Harvard Law School and has taught at Stanford Law School and UC Berkeley Law School.

He was recently appointed to the Board of Overseers of the Baldridge National Quality Program, an initiative of the US Department of Commerce, which annually awards the Malcolm Baldridge Award, the only presidential award for organizational performance excellence. Grande was vice-chair on the Board of Directors of the Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center and has been an appointee on the California State Bar Committee on Alternative Dispute Resolution. He is a member of the Association for Conflict Resolution and the Association for Dispute Resolution - Northern California. Grande was a negotiation expert for Monster.com and was a regular contributor to the Huffington Post.

Speaking at:

• Government Contracting 101: Small Business Contracting Programs 10:00 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. on Tuesday, May 22

James Rivera

SBA

Deputy Associate Administrator - Office of Disaster Assistance

Since September 2006, James Rivera has led several efforts to rebuild the agency's disaster operations, which included introducing an electronic disaster loan application, more efficient loan underwriting processes and computer technology upgrades which has resulted in quicker loan disbursements to homeowners, renters and businesses affected by a disaster.

Open full bio

In the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma in 2005, the SBA approved more than 168,000 low-interest disaster loans totaling $10.9 billion.

From 2002 to 2006, Rivera was the associate administrator in the Office of Financial Assistance. During his tenure administering the SBA’s 7(a), 504 and Microloan programs, lending records were broken each year, with an unprecedented level of capital provided to small businesses. In 2006, the SBA approved more than $20 billion in loans.

Rivera was previously the assistant administrator for Equal Employment Opportunity and Civil Rights Compliance (EEO&CRC). He served as the principal agency adviser on civil rights policies and was responsible for administering, strengthening and improving the agency’s record on civil rights and equal employment opportunity.

Before joining EEO&CRC in 2001, he was the deputy associate administrator for Disaster Assistance. He shared responsibility with the associate administrator for directing, planning, programming, developing, implementing and evaluating all aspects of SBA’s disaster loan-making programs nationwide.

Rivera started his SBA career in 1989 as a loan specialist at the Disaster Field Office in Ft. Worth, Texas. As a loan specialist he processed home, business physical and economic injury (working capital) disaster loans. In 1994 he transferred to Washington, D.C. to work in the Office of Disaster Assistance.

In addition to Rivera’s federal service, he was employed in the private sector at two financial institutions in Texas as a commercial loan officer. His lending experience includes marketing, negotiating, underwriting and closing transactions in commercial real estate, wholesale and retail markets.

Rivera received a bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance and Economics from Texas Tech University in 1983. He and his wife Julie live in North Potomac, Md. Their daughter Meaghan is a graduate of Ithaca College in New York, and son Brandon is a student at High Point University in North Carolina.

Speaking at:

• Emcee, Phoenix Awards Luncheon 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 22

Janet Zablock

Visa, Inc.

Head of Global Small Business

Janet Zablock has more than 15 years experience in managing commercial payment products for Visa. Currently, as Head of Global Small Business for Visa Inc, Zablock directs the development and implementation of the strategic vision for Visa Business products targeted at the small business market segment.

Her team coordinates all small business credit and debit product efforts including product development, program management and marketing. Additionally, Zablock manages Visa's small business credit and debit issuer services, which provide Visa financial institution clients with insight and counsel on effective client relationship management.

Previously, Zablock was Head of Commercial Specialized Sales for Visa Inc. In this role, she directed a team providing product expertise to issuing clients and supporting direct sales for small businesses, large market and public sector clients in North America.

Zablock was also vice president of commercial solutions for Visa USA where she directed Visa programs focused on corporate travel and procurement expense management. Zablock was instrumental in developing the Visa-branded SmartPay commercial card program for the U.S. federal government, which runs one of the world’s largest travel card programs.

Prior to joining Visa, Zablock was with Bank of America where she worked on cash management program implementation. She also worked for McDonalds Corporation in a variety of corporate positions. She holds a bachelors degree from Eastern Illinois University.

Speaking at:

• Champion Awards Gala 7:30p.m. - 11:00p.m. on Tuesday, May 22

Rieva Lesonsky

GrowBiz Media

CEO and President

Rieva Lesonsky is CEO and president of GrowBiz Media, a content and consulting company specializing in covering small businesses and entrepreneurship.

A nationally known speaker and authority on entrepreneurship, Lesonsky has been covering America's entrepreneurs for nearly 30 years. Before co-founding GrowBiz Media, Lesonsky was Editorial Director of Entrepreneur Magazine.

Lesonsky’s work can be found on her blog, SmallBizDaily.com. In addition Lesonsky is an editor-at-large for AllBusiness.com, the editor-in-chief at GrowSmartBusiness.com, and also writes about small business for Aol Small Business, SCORE, Small Business Trends, SBA.Gov, AT&T Small Business, American Express OPENForum and BusinessonMain. In 2009, she was named to Folio Magazine’s “Folio 40” list, which honors publishing’s top innovators.

Lesonsky has appeared on hundreds of radio shows and numerous local and national television programs, including the Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN, Fox Business News, The Martha Stewart show and Oprah, and can regularly be seen on MSNBC's Your Business.