Farooq Mitha

Bio

Farooq A. Mitha is currently the President and CEO of Imbue Group, Inc., which empowers businesses in the national security and technology industrial base to compete, win, and lead in an ever-evolving landscape. Imbue Group’s expertise spans government contracting, defense procurement, supply chain risk, and advanced manufacturing, helping companies break barriers, seize opportunities, and execute their mission with confidence. Imbue Group also collaborates with non-profits and government agencies at the local, state, and federal levels to build a stronger, more resilient industrial base, creating jobs and industries that shape the future.

Before this role Mr. Mitha served in the Biden administration as the Director of the Department of Defense (DoD) Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP). As Director, Mr. Mitha oversaw more than $140 billion of annual awards to small business. In addition, he assisted the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Secretaries of Military Departments, Under Secretaries of Defense, Directors of Defense Agencies and Major Commands in including small business planning into the readiness of the Department. These efforts aimed to modernize and restore the nation’s industrial commons through focusing on advanced manufacturing, applied research, and innovative programs that align small business capabilities with the DoD’s current and future needs.

During his tenure as OSBP Director Mr. Mitha’s entrepreneurial approach revitalized small business programs such the Mentor Protégé Program (MPP), Rapid Integration and Scaling Enterprises (RISE) and the Department’s APEX Accelerators. This created more opportunities for innovative small businesses focused on technology and advanced manufacturing, faster award timelines and increased business technical assistance for companies that have never done business with the Department. Mr. Mitha also established innovation and technical assistance centers in Florida and Michigan that support the infusion of small business capability into major defense acquisition programs and increased effective dialogue with industry. These programs and initiatives enabled the Department to increase engagement with startup and technology communities, domestic capital providers and state and local government. Under his leadership the Department stopped the decline of small businesses prime contractors in the defense industrial base, which eroded by over forty percent in the previous decade.  

Prior to his tenure as OSBP Director, Mr. Mitha served on the Biden-Harris transition team as a member of the DoD Agency Review Team. Mr. Mitha also served in the Obama administration as the Senior Advisor to the Director of the DoD Office of Small Business Programs and the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy. In these roles he oversaw the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, supported standing up DoD’s Manufacturing Innovation Institutes and supported oversight of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States at DoD, Defense Production Act and Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment program.

Mr. Mitha has a strong background in international policy and national security. He is fluent in Arabic and published opinion-editorials offering commentary on issues concerning the Middle East and the American political system. In 2009, Mr. Mitha was a Fulbright Fellow in Amman, Jordan where he coordinated a Track II diplomacy conference and conducted research on economic reform in the Middle East. Mr. Mitha has also lectured at domestic and international universities on economic reform in the Middle East, U.S. policy in the Middle East, and civic engagement.

Mr. Mitha obtained his law degree from the University of Florida Levin College of Law and holds a B.S. degree in Interdisciplinary Health Sciences from the University of South Florida.