President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Kelly Loeffler, an executive and former U.S. senator from Georgia, to serve as administrator of the Small Business Administration.
Loeffler will "bring her experience in business and Washington to reduce red tape and unleash opportunity for our small businesses to grow, innovate and thrive," Trump wrote Wednesday in a post on Truth Social.
Posting Wednesday on the social media platform X, Loeffler thanked Trump for nominating her and pledged to usher in "a new era of growth for job creators and innovators."
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who will chair the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship when the new Congress convenes in January, called Loeffler "a wise choice" in a press release Thursday. "As a successful business owner, Kelly knows what it takes to innovate and create jobs that support American families," Ernst said.
Rep. Roger Williams, R-Texas, the chairman of the House Small Business Committee, issued a statement Wednesday congratulating Loeffler. "I look forward to working with her to strengthen Main Street USA," Williams said.
During his first term, Trump
If confirmed by the Senate, Loeffler would be SBA's 28th administrator. Prior to her 2019-2021 term representing Georgia in the Senate, Loeffler was the first CEO of Bakkt, a company that helps businesses acquire, trade and hold cryptocurrency assets. She was in that role from July 2018 to December 2019. Bakkt is majority-owned by Intercontinental Exchange, the Atlanta-based company founded by Loeffler's husband, Jeffrey Sprecher.
Since losing her Senate seat to Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, Loeffler has remained politically active. She founded RallyRight, a political technology startup that aims to support conservative candidates, in 2021. Loeffler has served as a director for PublicSquare, a right-leaning online marketplace, since July 2023.
"We have witnessed firsthand the devotion and support Kelly provides to the American small business community, and we know she'll do a fantastic job in this Cabinet role," PublicSquare Chairman and CEO Michael Siefert said Thursday in a press release.
Tony Wilkinson, CEO of the National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders, said Thursday that his group would work with Loeffler "so that we can partner together on ways to best grow and support the small business economy while also preserving the long-term integrity and responsible stewardship of the successful 7(a) Loan Program that, last year alone, served over 70,000 small businesses with private-sector capital."
Under the leadership of Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman, SBA has played a central role in a number of Biden administration initiatives, including the Paycheck Protection Program, and a drive to direct more capital to minorities, women, veterans and other historically underserved groups. Since October 2021, the agency's flagship 7(a) loan guarantee program has approved more than 189,000 loans for approximately $90 billion.
Still, some of Guzman's policies came under attack from banking advocates, especially a plan to
"I believe we owe it to the small businesses we help every day to thoughtfully examine these changes one by one now that they have been put in place for the past 18 months, and ask whether it truly serves the borrower and the long-term integrity of the loan programs," Wilkinson said.
Under 7(a), SBA provides guarantees ranging from 50% to 85%, on loans underwritten and made by private-sector lenders. The program's annual funding level is currently set at $35 billion.
"In recent years, America's small businesses have grown at an unprecedented rate," John Arensmeyer, founder and CEO of the small business advocacy group Small Business Majority, said Wednesday in a statement. "The U.S. Small Business Administration has helped fuel that growth. If confirmed, we urge Kelly Loeffler to continue SBA's investment in our nation's small businesses and we hope that she continues the agency's non-partisan, non-ideological tradition."
