Hannibal “Mike” Ware
Inspector General Small Business Administration
Acting Inspector General Social Security Administration

The Honorable Hannibal “Mike” Ware serves as the Chairperson of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE). In November 2024, Mr. Ware was elected by the membership of the 73 Federal IGs to serve a two-year term as CIGIE Chairperson, beginning on January 1, 2025. In this role, Mr. Ware leads and oversees CIGIE’s statutory requirements to address integrity, economy, and effectiveness issues that transcend individual government agencies, and to increase the professionalism and effectiveness of personnel in Federal OIGs.

Mr. Ware was sworn in as the IG for the Small Business Administration (SBA) in May 2018. In this role, he is responsible for independent oversight of SBA’s programs and operations, which include SBA’s role in the nation’s pandemic response, accounting for over a trillion dollars of lending authority, loan portfolios valued at hundreds of billions of dollars, small business contracting programs that result in over $160 billion in government contracting dollars annually, and a robust portfolio of counseling programs that assist America’s small businesses.

Additionally, Mr. Ware has served as the Acting IG for the Social Security Administration since September 2024, overseeing SSA’s administration of over a trillion dollars in annual benefits impacting more than 72 million people, including retirees, disabled workers, and other qualified persons needing income security.

Mr. Ware has roughly 35 years of experience within the IG community, beginning in 1990 when he joined the Department of the Interior OIG’s U.S. Virgin Islands field office as an auditor. Mr. Ware has held increasingly challenging and vital roles within the IG community throughout his career. In April 2016, he was appointed to the Senior Executive Service as SBA OIG’s Deputy Inspector General.

Mr. Ware holds an accounting degree from the University of the Virgin Islands and was conferred a degree of Doctor of Humane Letters by the University in December 2020.