Fay Ott to Head SBA's Office of Government Contracting and Business Development

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Fay Ott will be SBA's associate
administrator for the Office of Government Contracting and Business
Development (GCBD), effective January 7, 2008, the agency announced today.

Ott, who is currently an SBA senior advisor, will work to increase small
business procurement opportunities and oversee implementation of agency
initiatives within GCBD, including the 8(a) Business Development program, and
the HUBZone Empowerment Contracting program. Ott will lead the agency's
efforts to ensure small business contracts are awarded to businesses that meet
the appropriate size standard, and help federal agencies meet their small
business contracting goals. Ott has been instrumental in developing tools to
assist these efforts, such as the Government Contracting Scorecard and a new
rule requiring companies with federal contracts to recertify their size status
if acquired by another company and after five years of a long term contract.

"Fay is a key member of our leadership team and her deep knowledge of SBA's
contracting programs will advance our goals to increase small business access
to federal contracts," said SBA Administrator Steve Preston. "Her expertise,
focus and strong management skills position her well to take on this new role.
I look forward to her skilled management of GCBD."

Ott has been a senior manager at the SBA since 2004. As a senior advisor, her
responsibilities include reviewing the policy and budgets of agency programs
and administrative offices; directing agency initiatives; and serving as a
liaison to the White House, Congress and federal agencies. She has also served
as SBA's deputy associate administrator of GCBD and deputy chief of staff.
Before joining SBA, she was the chief of staff at the U.S. Department of
Labor's Office of Policy, where she administered a staff of 60 employees and
provided policy and budget review. She also has extensive Congressional
experience, having worked for members in both the House and Senate.

Ott, a native of Orange, Mass., received her master's degree in political
science from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC and her
bachelor's degree in politics from Assumption College in Worcester, MA.

SOURCE U.S. Small Business Administration

Christine Mangi of the U.S. Small Business Administration, +1-202-205-6882