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Habemus Small Business Administrator!

By Marc Tracy

President-elect Barack Obama did not select Magic Johnson to head the Small Business Administration, but his choice seems like a good one nonetheless. He has tapped Karen G. Mills (pictured at right, on the right), a private equity wheeler-and-dealer and venture capitalist who has been very active in developing economic policy for her home state of Maine. The main criticism that could be made of her is that she has no grounding as a typical small businessperson, but past successful SBA administrators have not, either. The other criticism that could be made of her is that she never won five NBA championships, but we'll take what we can get.

A woman from Maine...ah yes, just like Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Me.), the ranking member of the Senate Small Business & Entrepreneurship Committee, for whom we had very kind words last week. We can't think this is pure coincidence. "Karen has a tremendous background in venture capital and lending, which will prove beneficial during these times in which small enterprises require every tool at their disposal to create new jobs," Snowe said in a statement released a few hours before Mills's appointment was official, reports Sharon McLoone.

(Incidentally, in that Snowe post, we named the four members of the group reviewing the SBA for Obama's transition team, and mentioned that we would be less than shocked if one of them ended up as SBA Administrator. Mills, needless to say, was indeed one of the four.)

McLoone has the rest of the goods. Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.), who heads the House Small Business Committee, was very pleased with the pick; so in fact, is outgoing Acting SBA Administrator Sandy Baruah. And so was the National Small Business Association, which brushed off the fact that Mills was not a typical small businessperson herself: "We're not overly concerned by administrators without small-business experience or backgrounds -- like former SBA chief Steven Preston -- so long as they are clearly grounded and have experience with key business, economic and operational challenges... which Ms. Mills appears to have," their spokesperson told McLoone. The National Federation of Independent Business, the more conservative and powerful of small business lobbies, has not put up a statement; we left a message for them seeking comment.

A final note. We absolutely think a man who is dedicated to making sure women entrepreneurs are treated equitably could do just as good a job at looking out for them as a woman. That said, appointing a woman to head the SBA sends a nice signal. For those not up to speed: female small business owners have not been receiving their legally mandated share of federal contracts; they have also just seen an SBA lending program designed specifically to help them yanked out from under them, a victim of the credit crunch.

The SBA faces a host of issues, most importantly declining 7(a) loans and most notoriously misreporting of government contracts. But Mills could do worse than starting in her new job by making sure women entrepreneurs are being treated as they should--and as the law demands.

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