WASHINGTON – The United States Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship today held a confirmation hearing on President Barack Obama’s nomination of Karen Gordon Mills to serve as Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA). The Committee is expected to vote on the Mills’ confirmation later today.
Since 1993, Mills has served as the President of MMP Group, Inc., a private equity investment and advising firm. She is a founding partner and was the managing director of Solera Capital, a NY-based venture capital firm run largely by women. She currently serves on 9 boards, including several nonprofit boards in her home state of Maine dedicated to promoting economic development.

“Karen Mills is the right person to lead the Small Business Administration during these tough economic times,” said Small Business Committee Chair Mary Landrieu, D-La. “After suffering enormous budget cuts and being relegated to obscurity during the previous Administration, the SBA needs a strong leader who will fight for small businesses throughout the nation. Ms. Mills has an outstanding record both in growing new businesses and in her community. I look forward to the swift confirmation of Ms. Mills. With her at the helm, the SBA will be better prepared and more able to assist the country’s struggling small businesses.”

“Karen Mills is precisely the right person at this critical juncture for our economy to assume the reins of the agency responsible for small businesses, America's preeminent job generators that will lead us out of our economic morass,” said Ranking Member Snowe. “I was so proud to have recommended Ms. Mills as our next administrator of the SBA because of her vast experience, remarkable intellect, and exceptional creativity. She promises to be a strong and vibrant advocate for our nation’s 27 million small businesses, and I look forward to partnering with her on bold initiatives to tackle America’s economic problems. I urge the full Senate to approve Karen’s nomination before we recess this week.”

Please click here to find Chair Landrieu’s testimony, Ms. Mills’ testimony and video of the hearing in its entirety.