Shannon Jackson

Biography:

Mr. Jackson leads a network of 700 full- and part-time Small Business Professionals across the Department of Defense (DoD). He ensures they leverage DoD’s small business industrial base to contribute to military readiness, introduce innovation to build a more lethal force and provide timely and cost-effective products and services. The work of DoD’s Small Business Professional workforce annually results in more than $50 billion in prime-contract spending and over $40 billion of subcontract-spending for small businesses. Mr. Jackson is a retired Lieutenant Colonel of the U.S. Army where he served for 23 years. In the military, he was the Deputy Program Manager for the U.S. Army Rapid Equipping Force; a Foreign Military Sales Acquisition Officer/Program Manager for a Major Weapon Systems, Ammunition and Service for the Government of Iraq; and the Department of the Army System Coordinator (DASC) within the office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition Logistics and Technology directly managing the Joint Air to Ground Missile (JAGM) and the Hellfire Missile System.

Abstract:

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program is a United States Government program, coordinated by the Small Business Administration. Annually, the DoD SBIR budget represents more than $1 billion in research funds. Over half the awards are to firms with fewer than 25 people and a third to firms of fewer than 10. A fifth are minority or women-owned businesses. Historically, a quarter of the companies are first-time winners. Cybersecurity is an increasingly high priority for DoD – for protecting not only information systems and critical infrastructure but increasingly the need to protect defense capabilities that depend on cyber-physical and embedded computing capabilities in our air, ground, sea, and space platforms. This talk will be about the opportunities for small businesses to contribute to the nation’s growing need for innovations in cybersecurity through DoD’s SBIR program and the supporting programs that DoD provides such as Department of Defense Mentor-Protégé Program.