Andre Gudger is director of the Defense Department’s Small Business Programs Office, where since March 2011 he has served as principal adviser and staff to the defense secretary on small business-related matters.
According to the department, he spent 17 years in the defense, intelligence and investment banking industries prior to his current position. That experience includes financial and technical initiatives at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Union Bank of Switzerland and AT&T.
Between 2003 and 2009, he served as chairman and CEO of Solvern Innovations, which provides acquisition and cyber support through training, research and product development. During his tenure as chief executive, the company provided software development and commercialization through technology transfer to the Human Computer Interaction
Lab at the University of Maryland.
In 2003, Mr. Gudger was presented the Granville T. Woods Award for Innovation from The National Association of Black Telecommunications Professionals.
Solver Innovations was acquired by Telecommunication Systems Inc. in 2009 and Gudger joined TCS, where he served as senior vice president of the cyber intelligence division.
Gudger has served on several boards in the Washington metropolitan region including the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, the Maryland BRAC Small & Minority Business Advisory Board and the Cyber Advisory Council.
He has also served as senior executive of the Art of Exploitation University and Cyber Center of Excellence and architect of the Computer Network Operations Training and Scientific Development Program, which provided services to the Defense Department.
Additional experience includes service as telecommunications director for the National Cryptologic School, Center for Business Management, Acquisition and Systems Engineering.
Gudger holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Maryland and an M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. While at UNC, he studied at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Erasmus University in the Netherlands, Tec de Monterrey in Mexico, Fundacao Vargus University in Brazil and Gdansk University in Poland.