NIST MEP is pleased to announce the appointment of Pravina Raghavan as the new Director of the MEP program. She officially started at NIST on Dec. 6, 2021.
Pravina joins NIST MEP with more than 20 years of experience providing advisory services to businesses in the startup, growth, expansion and maturity phases of development. She most recently served as Executive Vice President in the Division of Small Business and Technology Development for Empire State Development, the New York state economic development agency. In that role, she led and managed the New York MEP, which provides more than $10 billion in economic impact for the state, created and implemented the $100 million New York Forward Loan Fund and Empire State Digital resource for COVID-19 small business recovery, and designed and implemented the state’s $800 million COVID-19 Small Business Recovery Grant Program.
Pravina is no stranger to the Department of Commerce, having served as senior advisor to former Deputy Secretary Bruce H. Andrews. In that role, she worked on a large number of economic and operational issues across the department, including strategic planning and policy development on various topics including emergency management, economic development, international trade, weather, budget, contracts, staffing and technology development.
She also served as Deputy Associate Administrator of Investment and Innovation at the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and was responsible for the Small Business Investment Companies program, Small Business Innovation Research program and High Growth Entrepreneur initiatives, and served as District Director for SBA’s New York district office.
Before joining the federal government, Pravina was a Vice President with MTV and BET Networks, a founder and owner of a global strategic advisory firm and Business Development Director for Misys PLC, one of the world’s largest banking software companies. She was also an associate at Broadview International, a London investment bank and worked at AT&T in several finance and management roles, including her last five years as Mergers and Acquisitions Director for Europe and Asia.
Pravina has a Master of Business Administration in finance from Seton Hall University and a Bachelor of Science in finance from The Pennsylvania State University.
Polaris MEP is the Rhode Island MEP National Network™ center, supporting small and medium-sized manufacturers in the Ocean State with continuous improvement and competitive business services.
Visit the NIST MEP National Network website: https://www.nist.gov/mep/about-nist-mep