Assistant District Director for Marketing & Outreach, Area 1


Althea A. Harris began her federal career in 1993 at the U.S. Department of Commerce under the late Secretary Ronald H. Brown. There she traveled worldwide in support of small and medium-sized exporters. At the U.S. General Services Administration, Mrs. Harris helped small business owners compete for federal contracts from June 1996 until her move from Washington, DC in 1999 to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office in Miami.

She has held several positions with the SBA, most recently serving as the Public Affairs Officer. Now, as the Assistant District Director for Marketing & Outreach for Area 1* she coordinates and conducts marketing and outreach to over 500,000 small business owners in 6 of the District’s 24-county territory**. Mrs. Harris is also the Faith- & Community-Based Initiative Coordinator, the Women’s Business Ownership Representative, and, the SBA’s Women’s Business Center Project Officer.

Throughout her 17-year federal career, Mrs. Harris has worked to help entrepreneurs start, grow, and succeed in businesses with increased opportunities in the domestic, global and federal marketplaces. She is a graduate of Howard University and the University of Miami School of Law, and sits on two non-profit boards as well as the Florida Bar’s Grievance Committee. She shares her life and love with Robert Newton Harris, an employment and commercial litigation attorney in Miami and their four children.


* Area 1 includes: Broward, Collier, Hendry, Lee, Miami-Dade, and, Monroe counties.
**The South Florida District Office serves the 24 counties south of Orlando. They include: Brevard, Broward, Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lee, Manatee, Martin, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Okeechobee, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Saint Lucie, and Sarasota.