Ana Recio Harvey

Harvey was born in Mexico City.[1] She began a career as a translation consultant in 1991. In 2000 she established Syntaxis, LLC, a multilingual communications company with a number of Fortune 500 clients including companies, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations. Syntaxis grew from a purely English-to-Spanish translation agency into a large scale operation with 75 employees offering services in 25 languages. Harvey studied for a bachelor's degree at the University of Houston.[2]

Building on her career as a translator entrepreneur, she began volunteering with numerous organizations in Mexico City,[1] which led to her appointment as Latino Programs Director for Cultural Tourism DC. The position saw her forge a working relationship with community-based organizations in the Washington DC Metropolitan Area.[1] She has said of her mission: "As a female entrepreneur, I am very familiar with the challenges of starting, financing and growing a business. Finding resources to achieve business goals should not be one of them".[3]

In 2007,[2] Harvey became president and CEO of the Greater Washington Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and is on the board of the Washington DC Economic Partnership (WDCEP).[1] Part of her job involves in coordinating and implementing initiatives for the Small Business Administration (SBA) in Washington to benefit small, struggling, women-owned businesses, by offering them federal government contract awards. Her work often benefits women, Hispanics, African Americans and other ethnic minorities, and rural America.[4] Between 2009 and 2013 Harvey served as SBA's Assistant Administrator for Women's Business Ownership.[4] In January 2015 she was appointed acting director of the District of Columbia Department of Small and Local Business Development (DSLBD).[3] In September 2015, she received an Ohtli Award from the Mexican government for her service to the Mexican-American and Latino community.[5]