Associate Professor & Senior Economic Policy Advisor
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Dilawar Syed is an entrepreneur and former U.S. cabinet official whose leadership has spanned various public and private sector organizations, including as Deputy Administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration and Special Representative for Commercial Affairs at the State Department. In a decades-long career in Silicon Valley, Dilawar led and scaled ventures in AI, software, and consumer web.
At SBA, Dilawar advanced the Biden Administration's priorities for small businesses by expanding access to capital ($56B in 2024), government contracting for small businesses, and entrepreneurship enablement– particularly in the underserved and rural communities. He coordinated SBA's disaster response after Hurricanes Helene and Milton in the Southeast, the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore, MD, and the wildfires in Maui, HI.
As Special Envoy for Commercial & Business Affairs, he was America's top commercial diplomat at the State Department, championing U.S. companies in markets abroad and strengthening U.S. competitiveness. He mobilized private sector support for Ukraine after Russia's invasion, advocated for strategic deals in advanced tech, energy, aviation, and defense, and negotiated market access in his 24 bilateral visits across the globe.
Dilawar's civic entrepreneurship has spanned local, state, and federal governments. Appointed by President Obama in 2010 to the White House Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, he led engagement with small businesses during the economic recovery. In 2017, he launched the California Entrepreneurship Task Force with the Governor's Office to bridge Silicon Valley with rural communities and promote inclusive economic growth.
Dilawar has previously served as CEO of Lumiata, an AI healthcare company backed by Khosla Ventures and BlueCross BlueShields, and as founding President at Freshworks. Freshworks had a successful IPO in 2021. Earlier, he held leadership roles at Yahoo! and Siebel Systems. Dilawar started his career in management consulting at Ernst & Young and Deloitte Consulting.