Upcoming Events

Annual Event 2024 Speakers

Dilawar Syed

Dilawar Syed comes to SBA from the State Department where he championed American businesses as Special Representative for Commercial & Business Affairs. As the State Department’s top commercial diplomat, Deputy Administrator Syed advocated for U.S. companies to compete and win abroad and helped ensure U.S. competitiveness in markets across the globe. In this role, he mobilized the private sector to support the people of Ukraine in the wake of Russia’s invasion and advocated for commercial deals in strategic sectors such as aviation and defense, energy, and technology.

Before joining the Biden Administration, Syed was CEO at Lumiata, an AI healthcare company focused on reducing healthcare costs and improving patient outcomes. Previously, Syed was President at the software company Freshworks. Earlier in his career, Syed oversaw business operations for Yahoo!’s platforms and infrastructure and was a product manager at Siebel Systems and SAP.

Dilawar Syed has driven civic efforts at the federal, state, and local level focusing on economic growth and entrepreneurship. As the founding Chair of the California Entrepreneurship Task Force with the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, Syed promoted inclusive entrepreneurship. He served on President Obama’s White House Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) and chaired the White House Initiative on AAPIs’ Economic Growth Committee. In that role, Syed led the administration’s engagement with small businesses across the U.S. after the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. In 2020, Syed was tapped by San Jose, Calif. Mayor Sam Liccardo to help lead Silicon Valley’s pandemic economic recovery as a member of the Silicon Valley Recovery Roundtable.

Syed holds an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and earned a B.A. in Economics and Computer Science from The University of Texas at Austin.

Ahmed Ali

Don’t miss the chance to learn from Ahmed R. Ali, a government contracting expert who built TISTA into a powerhouse. Gain insights into securing and managing large-scale federal contracts. Whether you’re an established business or a startup, Ahmed’s journey will equip you with the tools and inspiration to succeed in the federal marketplace.
Founder of TISTA Science and Technology Corporation: Ali founded and built TISTA into a powerhouse in federal contracting, providing innovative technologies and mission-critical solutions.
Proven Track Record: Under Ahmed’s leadership, TISTA has secured over $1 billion in federal contracts, recognized consistently as a top-performing business by Inc. 500/5000 and the Washington Business Journal.
⁠Extensive Government Contracting Experience: Over 30 years of experience working with key federal agencies, including DoD, DoJ, DEA, NASA, NSA, and DISA, providing critical IT and engineering solutions.
⁠Veteran Leadership: As a U.S. Navy Veteran, Ahmed has a deep understanding of mission-critical requirements for the Department of Defense and Intelligence community, making him a valuable resource for entrepreneurs seeking to enter government contracting.
Award-Winning Executive: Selected as the 2016 SBA Person of the Year for Maryland, highlighting his success and impact in the small business sector.
⁠Serial Entrepreneur with Global and Community Impact: Ahmed is an investor and philanthropist, with experience as a judge on Shark Tank Bangladesh and a commitment to building orphanages and supporting children’s causes.

Khan M Siddiqui

Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, HOPPR Dr. Khan M. Siddiqui is a distinguished clinical radiologist, AI pioneer, and serial entrepreneur with a vast network spanning medicine, academia, technology, government, and finance. He holds numerous patents in AI, image processing, and secure patient information handling. At Microsoft, he played a key role in developing the first multimodal AI model in medical imaging and contributed to the infrastructure behind Xbox Kinect, leveraging nearly one billion images. Dr. Siddiqui’s entrepreneurial success includes taking Hyperfine, Inc., the creator of the world’s first FDA-cleared portable MRI scanner, public via a SPAC process. He also founded higi, Inc., a consumer health technology company, which was later acquired in a $4.2 billion SPAC transaction. His academic roles at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland, along with his leadership as the founding chair of the American College of Radiology’s Imaging and Informatics Commission, highlight his influence in radiology. A frequent lecturer on technology commercialization, AI in radiology, and digital health, Dr. Siddiqui has contributed to many academic radiology programs and served on various boards and advisory committees globally. His work has been recognized worldwide, establishing him as a leader in healthcare technology.

Pamela Callicut

Ms. Pamela Callicutt is currently serving as the Senior Advisor to the Associate Administrator for Government Contracting and Business Development at the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). In this role, she leads a team of experts to streamline the SBA’s certification process, transitioning from four systems to a unified certification system, enhancing accessibility for small businesses. Before her current role, Ms. Callicutt was the Deputy Director for the Army Office of Small Business Programs, where she provided leadership and policy oversight to ensure small business participation in defense contracts. She also served as Acting Director, where she led the Army’s small business policy, goals, and procedures, and represented the Secretary of the Army at congressional hearings on small business matters, including issues related to historically black colleges and universities/minority institutions (HBCU/MI).

Sofyan Yusufi

Sofyan Yusufi is a Principal in Deloitte’s Government and Public Services practice. He serves as the Lead Risk and Financial Advisory Partner for Deloitte’s International Development practice which includes clients such as USAID, IMF, UN, DFC, EXIM and others. Sofyan is also the global risk and financial advisory leader for this practice. In his prior roles, Sofyan served as the Lead Business Partner for NASA and as the Lead Engagement Partner for the US Postal Service. He has also served as the head of the Regulatory and Operations Transformation practice and as the Chief Strategy Officer for Deloitte’s GPS Regulatory and Legal practice.

Haroon Mokhtarzada

Haroon Mokhtarzada Co-founder & CEO, Rocket Money Haroon is a Harvard Law grad turned serial entrepreneur and angel investor. He was the founder and CEO of Webs.com, a popular website creation platform that grew to 50 million users before being acquired by Vistaprint. After Webs, Haroon co-founded Truebill in 2015. As CEO, Haroon grew Truebill into a leading personal finance app, topping 2.5 million members and over $100M in ARR before being acquired by Rocket Companies in 2021 for $1.3 billion.
Haroon has a passion for technology startups, innovation, global change, AI, and elegant problem solving. He has personally invested in over 100 technology startups including early stage investments in Instacart, Carta, Relativity Space, PlutoTV, and more. Haroon is a 2021 Henry Crown Fellow and has participated on several boards including the American Express Open Digital Advisory Board and the United Nations Global Entrepreneurs Council. In 2022, Haroon was honored with EY’s National Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Ahmad Nassar

Ahmad Nassar is Executive Director of the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA), and also serves as the Founding CEO of Winners Alliance, Inc. The PTPA is the global advocate on behalf of men’s and women’s professional tennis players, while Winners Alliance creates and maximizes commercial opportunities for players. Ahmad built his career by dedicating himself to working with athletes and helping them generate more value from their professional careers.
From leading the PTPA to the NFL Players Association, Ahmad has a successful track record of nearly 20 years leveraging commercial value and IP to unlock substantially greater economics for male and female athletes.
Before joining the PTPA and founding Winners Alliance, Ahmad was founding CEO of OneTeam Partners LLC, a private equity-backed sports licensing and marketing company co-owned by the NFL and MLB Players Associations. Built to maximize the collective value of athlete rights across group licensing, marketing, media and investing, OneTeam was the first company owned by athletes and capitalized by a major financial partner. Under Ahmad’s leadership, OneTeam evolved into a multibillion-dollar powerhouse representing the commercial business interests of a diverse set of more than 10,000 world-class athletes represented by the NFLPA, MLBPA, MLSPA, the U.S. Women’s National Team PA, the NWSLPA, the WNBPA, the U.S. Rugby PA as well as men’s and women’s collegiate athletes.
Prior to launching OneTeam, Ahmad spent over a decade at NFL Players Inc., the for-profit marketing and licensing business of the NFLPA representing 2,000 NFL players. As President, he played a vital role in the growth of the organization into one of the most progressive business-to-business entities in sports, doubling annual revenue from $100M to $200M during his tenure. He also managed operations and led commercial negotiations with the NFL and partners such as Fanatics and Electronic Arts. Ahmad also led the creation and launch of ACE Media, an NFLPA-owned business focused on athlete lifestyle programming; and co-founded and led the OneTeam Collective, the first athlete-driven business accelerator, engaging early-stage companies by licensing NFLPA group rights in exchange for equity.
Both a Sports Business Journal Forty Under 40 and Leaders in Sport Leader Under 40 recipient, Ahmad earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago School of Law and bachelor’s degrees in Economics and Near Eastern Studies from the University of Michigan. In addition to championing the rights of athletes, Ahmad continues to advance positive contributions to society as a delegate to the Vatican’s Sport for All initiatives and through his work with the Muslim-Jewish Advisory Council and El-Hibri Foundation.

Imran Aftab

Imran Aftab is the Co-Founder & CEO of 10Pearls, a global digital transformation company helping businesses innovate, digitalize and scale. He has bootstrapped 10Pearls from his mom’s kitchen, to now a world-class organization of over 1,400 employees with offices in 4 continents.
The company’s fast growth, focus on social responsibility and customer excellence have earned it numerous recognitions and awards. 10Pearls has been named to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies in the US for 6 years in a row, named on the list of fastest growing companies by The Financial Times, recognized on CRN Solutions Provider 500 List, and cited several times by advisory firms Gartner and Forrester for its expertise in digital experience.
Imran’s vision has been to balance purpose, profits and people. He has founded Empower Foundation, a charitable organization that invests in opportunity creation for the youth, helping children and empowering women across geographies where 10Pearls operates in. In recognition, WBJ awarded 10Pearls the Social Impact Eagle Award and the Washington Post calls 10Pearls a double bottom line company.
Prior to co-founding 10Pearls, Imran was the Director of Global Outsourcing at AOL-Time Warner where he managed over $150M in annual spend across 10 countries helping affect organizational efficiencies and transformation.
His experience on the product side stems from working at MicroStrategy where Imran led product management for industry-specific business applications. He started his corporate career as an investment banking analyst for JP Morgan Chase.
Imran is the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2022 Mid-Atlantic Award Winner and currently serves as a regional judge for the EOY program. He is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) and the Mindshare Entrepreneur Network. He dabbles in angel investing and is interested in socially impactful tech startups.
Imran earned his MS in Chemical Physics from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and his BA in Chemistry from Bard College.