Nygina Mills

Nygina Mills is a legal executive in the Washington, D.C., area who has held leadership positions in federal agencies and partnerships in private law firms. At the Small Business Administration, she served as Associate General Counsel for Financial Law. Her responsibilities there included leading a staff of 30 lawyers and administrative personnel supporting more than ten departments, among them the Office of Capital Access.

Before that appointment, Mills directed the Strategic Initiatives Directorate at the U.S. Department of Education. Performance tracking and transparency for CARES Act and American Rescue Plan programs formed part of her responsibilities. Earlier assignments placed her on two sides of defense contracting: contract oversight at the Defense Contract Management Agency and legal advice on contract costs at the Defense Contract Audit Agency. She held the first agency’s Associate Counsel (Contracts) position from 2012 to 2017, then served as the audit agency’s Assistant General Counsel from 2017 to 2020. In the latter position, she supervised teams advising on contract cost resolutions in the United States and abroad.

Mills’s private-practice background includes Crowell & Moring and Paul Hastings, along with partnerships at Perry Krumsiek & Jack and FisherBroyles. FisherBroyles announced her arrival in September 2011, citing work involving both commercial and federal contracts. She earned her J.D. at Harvard Law School. Outside those appointments, she has taken part in discussions as a speaker or moderator for the American Bar Association, Harvard Business School and Public Contracting Institute.