Christina “Tina” Barnhill is Associate Director, Defense SBIR/STTR Program Office, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense For Research and Engineering, US Department of Defense.
Prior to her current role she served as Acting Operations Manager for SBIR/STTR programs within the Missile Defense Agency (MDA). Her office provides government funding opportunities, including technological innovations by small businesses focusing on DoD major weapons systems acquisitions.
Tina plans and manages the 4th largest SBIR/STTR Program within DoD by focusing on program strategies, optimizing resources and capitalizing on best practices while assisting small businesses to market their capabilities within MDA.
To those ends, she established a Commercialization and Transition Office and has extensive experience with the DoD Mentor Protégé Program – partnering large industry leaders with small businesses. In 2015, Tina won the 2015 Champion of Small Business Technology Commercialization, DoD National Small Business Association.
Tina holds a Master of Science in Program Management from the Florida Institute of Technology and has served as a DoD civilian for over 25 years.