SBA Gets New Administrator

Image via SBA.gov

The United States Small Business Administration (SBA) has a new full-time Administrator after nearly a year of transition. It was announced that Jovita Carranza now holds the post, and is the 26th person in the organization’s history to do so.

Carranza is no stranger to the SBA. She served as Deputy Administrator of the SBA during the George W. Bush administration from 2006 to 2009, and was serving as the 44th Treasurer of the United States when President Trump nominated her to lead the SBA. The Senate confirmed her with "strong bipartisan" support by a vote of 88 to 5.

Carranza commented, “I want to thank the President for his confidence in me to be an advocate in the Cabinet for our country’s 30 million small businesses, and I want to express my sincere gratitude to the U.S. Senate for confirming me in a bipartisan fashion. I look forward to helping elevate female entrepreneurs and our military veterans, expanding access to SBA resources among entrepreneurs in disadvantaged communities, and continuing to prioritize disaster relief.”

Carranza succeeds former Administrator Linda McMahon, who announced her resignation a year ago this March. SBA General Counsel Chris Pilkerton stepped in as Acting Administrator in the interim.

“I would like to thank former Administrator Linda McMahon for her leadership at the SBA, and the dedicated professionals at the Agency during this transition,” Carranza added.

Image via SBA.gov

Prior to her work with the federal government, Carranza had a 30-year career with United Parcel Service (UPS), where she began as an hourly dock worker, before rising to oversee the company’s Latin America and Caribbean operations. She retired as the highest-ranking Latina in that company’s history.

Her vast experience in both the private and public sectors, and at the SBA, made her an ideal choice for the Administrator role.

In testimony late last year before the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Carranza said, "Throughout my life – as a young girl in a working-class community, as an executive leader at a global company, and as a government official – I’ve seen the transformative power entrepreneurship can have on individuals, communities, and the global economy.”

Image via Jovita Carranza Instagram

At the Committee hearing, she pledged to preside over an agency "focused on creating more opportunities for women and historically underrepresented entrepreneurs" while ensuring the SBA remains committed to assisting displaced homeowners and small businesses impacted by disaster.

Carranza credited her success to hard work, as well as opportunity, guidance, and advocacy received from others. She vowed to leverage the SBA’s power to provide similar support to entrepreneurs who "need it most."

Carranza earned her MBA from the University of Miami and received executive, governance, management, and financial training from the INSEAD Business School in Paris, Michigan State University, and the University of Chicago.

Small business owners who wish to follow Administrator Carranza can do so across all of the major social networks.