About
Dilawar Syed
Dilawar Syed is an entrepreneur, board member, and former U.S. cabinet official whose leadership has spanned public and private sector organizations — including as Deputy Administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration and Special Representative for Commercial & Business Affairs at the U.S. State Department.
Public Service
Dilawar's most recent role as SBA Deputy Administrator began with a bipartisan vote of the U.S. Senate. Dilawar advanced the Biden Administration's priorities for small businesses by democratizing access to capital ($56 billion in 2024), government contracting ($183 billion in 2024), and entrepreneurship enablement, especially in underserved and rural communities. He coordinated SBA's disaster response after Hurricanes Helene and Milton in the Southeast, the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore, MD, and the wildfires in Maui, HI.
As Special Representative for Commercial & Business Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, Dilawar served as America's top commercial diplomat, championing U.S. companies in markets abroad and strengthening U.S. competitiveness. He mobilized private sector support for Ukraine after Russia's invasion, advocated for strategic deals in advanced tech, energy, aviation, and defense, and negotiated market access across more than fifty bilateral engagements around the globe.
Business Leadership
In a decades-long career in Silicon Valley, Dilawar led and scaled ventures in AI, software, and consumer web. He has previously served as CEO of Lumiata, an AI healthcare company backed by Khosla Ventures and BlueCross BlueShields, and as President at Freshworks, where he founded the software company's North America business; Freshworks completed a successful IPO in 2021. Earlier, he held leadership roles at Yahoo! and Siebel Systems, and began his career in management consulting at Ernst & Young and Deloitte.
Civic Work
Dilawar's civic entrepreneurship has spanned local, state, and federal governments. Appointed by President Obama in 2010 to the White House Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, he led engagement with small businesses during the economic recovery. In 2017, he launched the California Entrepreneurship Task Force with the Governor's Office to bridge Silicon Valley with rural communities and promote inclusive entrepreneurship.
Current Work
After public service, Dilawar has joined the LBJ School of Public Affairs and McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin, where he teaches at the intersection of strategy, industrial policy, and technology, and has founded the LBJ Business Policy Forum. His work at UT also includes affiliations with the Center for Global Business, the Clements Center for National Security, and the South Asia Institute.
Dilawar holds an MBA from The Wharton School and a BA in Computer Science and Economics from The University of Texas at Austin.
Dilawar is currently completing a forthcoming memoir about leadership, public service, citizenship, and America's place in the world.
