The Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZone) program helps small businesses in urban and rural communities gain preferential access to federal procurement opportunities. This meeting will provide an overview of the program, a discussion of who is eligible and a brief of the current updates to the regulation and program.
Guest Presenter:
Mariana A. Pardo
Director - HUBZone Program
U.S. Small Business Administration
Mariana Pardo is the Director for the HUBZone Program which is administered by the United States Small Business Administration (SBA). Ms. Pardo is responsible for issuing final determinations on firms applying for HUBZone certification, for the continuing monitoring of certified HUBZone small businesses and for adjudicating protests of eligibility regarding HUBZone contracts. Her professional background is rather eclectic. Ms. Pardo comes from a family of small businesses (auto body repair shops, beauty salons, construction, restaurants, and liquor stores). It is this experience that has helped her assist small businesses because she intimately understands the challenges they face in starting and running a business.
In 1998, Ms. Pardo joined the Federal workforce as a Business Opportunity Specialist for the SBA’s Small Disadvantage Business Certification processing unit. A few years later, she moved to the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) as the Technical Project Manager and Team Leader for USAJOBS, the government's official job website. Although she enjoyed the challenges in OPM, she missed working with the small business community and on July 2006, she came back to SBA as the Director of the 8(a) Business Development - Office of Certification and Continuing Eligibility. Then, on May 2008, Ms. Pardo was asked to help rebuild the HUBZone Program after a series of GAO reports and investigations revealed internal control deficiencies and unacceptable non-compliance levels. As a result, she developed and implemented new business processes aimed at reducing fraud, waste and abuse.
Ms. Pardo was born in Montevideo, Uruguay and moved to United States in 1973. She has lived in West Warwick, Rhode Island, San Francisco, California, and now in Fort Washington, Maryland. She holds a Masters in Technology Management from the University of Maryland University College.