Mr. Shannon Jackson was appointed as the Director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) in November 2021. Mr. Jackson is responsible for implementing the Department’s small business procurement programs across the HHS portfolio valued at $9.4 billion in procurements, awarding contracts each year to small businesses.
Mr. Jackson comes to HHS with a wealth of experience and is joining us from the Department of Defense (DoD) Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP) where he served in various roles to include Acting Director of OSBP, Deputy Director of OSBP, and Associate Director for the DoD Mentor Protégé Program and Senior Advisor to the Director of the DoD OSBP. Mr. Jackson has served over 29 years in the federal government and has held various leadership positions throughout his career, to include his military service retiring at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army. Mr. Jackson led a network of 700 full- and part-time small business professionals across the DoD. Noteworthy is that the work of DOD’s small business workforce results in more than $50 billion in prime contract spending on contracts to small businesses and over $40 billion in subcontract spending for small businesses annually.
Mr. Jackson began his acquisition career with the U.S. Army successfully. He was certified as a Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) Program Manager Level III and Level II Contracting. Mr. Jackson has completed several executive level training courses in leadership throughout his career to include certifications from the University of Chicago and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He holds an undergraduate degree in history from Virginia State University, a master’s degree in business administration from Nichols College and a master’s degree in procurement and acquisition from Webster University.