On March 9, 2015 Mr. Ruiz became the San Antonio District Director. He originally started his career with SBA in 2011 as the Assistant District Director for the 8(a) Business Development Program in the Washington, DC Metro Area District Office, where he implemented a program to market the contracting agencies, resulting in increasing contract awards from $3.9 Billion to over $6.4 Billion in FY 2014 from FY 2013 for the 8(a) firms in his region. 
Before joining SBA he served in the Maryland Small Business Development Center Network for 7 years as the Master Management Consultant and the Capital Region Director, leading that Region to be the #2 top performing SBDC Region in the nation and the #1 performing region in SBA’s Region III. Mr. Ruiz also has 22 years’ experience as a business owner, 5 years as a commercial banker, and 5 years as an international banker financing global trade for manufacturing firms.
Anthony’s education includes an undergraduate degree in International Relations from Cal-State, L.A., an MBA double major in International Finance & International Marketing from the University of Southern California, and a Law Degree from the University of Arizona with emphasis on finance and international business.   
Anthony is also a Vietnam Veteran, serving in the United States Army Field Artillery from 1967-1969. His military awards include a Purple Heart and Bronze Star.