As Director of the Office of the HUBZone Program at the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), Lori Gillen leads a team of professionals dedicated to helping small businesses in historically under-utilized business communities succeed in the federal marketplace.

Prior to joining the HUBZone Program, Lori served as the Director of the All Small Mentor-Protégé Program and joined the federal government as a career senior executive in the Office of Entrepreneurial Development to help expand and strengthen SBA’s small business counseling and training network.
Lori has dedicated her 35-year career in economic development to boosting entrepreneurial ecosystems and expanding opportunities for underserved communities. Prior to joining SBA she founded a Women’s Business Center with a specialty in government contracting, expanded a small business incubator of women and minority-owned enterprises, started a micro-loan fund with regional banks, and ran her own small business.

Lori earned an MBA from Johns Hopkins University and a BA in Urban Affairs from George Washington University. As a recent empty-nester she and her husband have been traveling and getting reacquainted with the D.C. region’s many treasures.