Janette Riddell

DIRECTOR

Janette serves as the Director of the SBDC International Trade Center, and manages the Texas International Business Accelerator (TIBA) Program, and the Center for Global Development (CGD). She oversees the center’s strategic plan, coordinates the development of new projects, administers the center funds, and supports the expansion of the SBDC model throughout Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa with the goal of establishing sustainable and successful SBDC networks.

Janette served as the Assistant Director for Finance and Operations, at the Texas South-West SBDC Network. As Assistant Director in the area of Finance, she served as a liaison between funding agencies and departments within the University for the acquisition and successful fulfillment of grants, contracts, awards, sub-awards, and cooperative agreements. On the operational side, Janette served as the MIS Administrator, responsible for maintaining data quality and integrity, ensuring data is accurate for reporting purposes. She also was responsible for conducting and managing surveys for clients, stakeholders, and employees of the SBDC Network; and developing Benchmarking and Trend Analysis tools to evaluate performance and efficiency over time, and identify opportunities for improvement and best practices.

Prior to joining the Texas South-West SBDC Network in 2019, Janette joined the SBDC International Trade Center in 2007, where she created and implemented new processes oriented to provide clients with high-quality services, build customer loyalty, improve efficiency, and deliver an ROI that exceeds stakeholders’ expectations. Her work resulted in the center being nationally recognized as the best U.S. Small Business Development Center in 2014 and in achieving more than 40% response rate from clients on the annual National Impact Study.

In addition, Janette’s previous experience includes working with Ph.D. Professors, scientists, and engineers in different fields of Research & Development, Technology Commercialization, and Manufacturing. Janette is a Certified Global Business Professional, holds a Master of Science in Management of Technology from the University of Texas at San Antonio and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Management Engineering from the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León. She is bilingual and multicultural having worked and lived in Mexico and Slovakia.