The Small Business Administration (SBA) named Sophia Parker as its Small Business Person of the Year for Maryland, a significant honor from the flagship government agency charged with ensuring the success and growth of small businesses.
The award recognizes small enterprises throughout the 50 states, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin islands that have demonstrated sustained growth, innovation, and a commitment to philanthropic efforts in recent years.
Small businesses created two million of the three million jobs created last year by private-sector enterprises, according to SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet. She added that the 2015 awardees represent the "backbone" of the U.S. economy. “Competition was extremely keen across the nation for these prestigious awards,” Contreras-Sweet said. “I couldn’t be any prouder recognizing these outstanding entrepreneurs and small business owners.”
DSFederal has expanded to 130 employees and $16.5 million in revenue since its 2007 inception. In a statement following the announcement, Parker reflected on the company’s steadfast dedication to its core mission. “My dream was to create a company that would combine highly-skilled expertise and emerging technology to conquer our customers’ most pressing challenges,” Parker said. “In addition to providing the best possible service to our customers, we define our success by our charity efforts and how many lives we can influence in a positive manner.”
About DSFederal: DSFederal is a woman-owned consulting firm that specializes in research support, enterprise IT solutions, business process improvement, and training for Federal government agencies. The company has received awards from the U.S. Small Business Administration (Top Woman-Owned Small Business), the Washington Business Journal (Top Small Technology Company), and SmartCEO (Cornerstone Award.) Clients include the Departments of Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Transportation, Defense, and Agriculture, among others. Projects range from mobile app development to training solutions to customization of software and processes in support of multi-billion dollar efforts for HHS agencies. www.dsfederal.com