Ms. Susan Celis
Acting Director
Ms. Celis has served the Department of Defense (DoD) for over 30 years; starting at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from 1988 until 2004, where she held a variety of positions in financial management, personnel management, program analysis/management, computer information systems development, and training. It was during this period in her career that she became involved with the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)/Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. Next, she served as the U.S. Army SBIR Program Manager from 2004-2008, where she developed and successfully implemented several program and system modernization initiatives. For eleven years she served as the SBIR/STTR Program Manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) where she focused on creating an environment that considers small business concerns as a primary source of innovative solutions. In 2019, she joined the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense Research and Engineering in the Small Business and Technology Partnerships (SBTP) Office to manage the DoD SBIR/STTR programs, and is currently serving as the Acting Director. Ms. Celis holds a Bachelor of Science in Management and Computer Information Systems from Park University, and a Master of Public Administration from American University.