Assistant Deputy Director and Southern California Regional Advisor
California Office of the Small Business Advocate

Christopher Earl was appointed as Assistant Deputy Director for the Office of the Small Business Advocate at the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development in December 2022. Previously, Earl was appointed as Southern California Regional Advisor at the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development in 2020. Prior to his role with the state, Christopher served at Riverside Community College District, where he held several positions from 2012 to 2020, most recently as Executive Director of Economic Development and Entrepreneurship, District Director of the Office of Grants and Contracts, Statewide Director of the Federal and State Technology (FAST) Partnership Program, and Assistant Director of the TriTech Small Business Development Center serving the Southern California Region. Mr. Earl has spent the last 15 years supporting small business and economic development via various programs.

Christopher has an undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from South Carolina State University, and started out his career with the Department of Transportation (DOT) serving as a Civil Engineer/State Inspector. Christopher’s post-graduate studies are in Technology Transfer and Commercialization, and entrepreneurial management as part of the Integrated Technology Transfer Network (ITTN) fellowship program at California State University San Bernardino in partnership with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), the Department of the Navy (DoN), and the Army Research Lab (ARL).