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SBA Chief Karen Mills Stepping Down

Feb 2013

Karen Mills has resigned as the head of the Small Business Administration (SBA) after nearly four years on the job. She announced her decision in a letter to SBA employees on Feb. 11 and intends to stay on until a successor is confirmed.

"I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone across the SBA for the work you have done to help America's entrepreneurs and small business owners during this critical juncture in our nation's history," Mills said in the letter.

(Read her full resignation letter)

A native New Englander, Mills ran a private-equity advisory firm in Brunswick, Maine, before she was tapped by President Obama to run the agency, which has since been elevated to a Cabinet-level post. She spent much of her early tenure championing the Obama administration's small business policies, including the 2010 Small Business Jobs Act that contained a number of incentives aimed at boosting small business lending.

Last fiscal year the agency supported $30.3 billion in small business loans, second most in its history, without the aid of incentives, which expired at the start of 2011. During Mills' overall tenure, the SBA took part in loans worth more than $106 billion to at least 193,000 businesses.

"Four years ago, when I arrived at the SBA, America's small businesses and entrepreneurs were struggling in the face of the worst economic environment since the Great Depression - and a banking sector that was frozen," Mills wrote in the letter.

"Together, we rolled up our sleeves and went to work. And from day one, each of you stepped up and fulfilled the mission of what the agency was created to do," she said

Mills said she will not leave until her replacement is confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

For more information about SBA 504 loans in Florida, contact Florida First Capital, Florida's original statewide SBA Certified Development Company (CDC). Email: info@ffcfc.com. Phone: 850.681.3601 or toll-free at 888.320.5504.