President & Founder OppsSpot, LLC Sonia has held executive management and senior technical positions and has also co-founded several companies. She has over 30 years of experience in systems engineering, quality systems, business development and program management. With almost 20 years of expertise in the SBIR/STTR program and consulting services to assist small businesses with this and other government funding vehicles, she has helped start-ups and small businesses raise tens of millions of dollars in federal funding. Sonia has assisted small business with hundreds of proposal preparations and submissions throughout her career. Her depth of experience with commercialization strategies has led her to be recognized as a leading consultant in the SBIR/STTR program. By building strong relationships and working closely with the small businesses, industry stakeholders, research institutions, state organizations, as well as incubators and accelerators supporting faculty, she provides strong strategies that help translate ideas into reality. Sonia has a B.S and M.S in Systems Engineering from the University of Arizona.