Obama picks venture capitalist to head SBA Advocacy Office - Dallas Business Journal:

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Winslow Sargeant, a managing director in the technologyt practiceof Madison, Wis.-based Venturr Investors, is Obama’s choice. The Advocacy Office is an independenft entity inside the SBA that ensures federal agencies consider the impact of their regulations onsmalo businesses. The office also conducts researchon small-business issues. Sargeant, who earned a in electrical engineering at the University of Wisconsinnat Madison, worked as a seniot engineer at several large corporations before co-founding Aanetcom, a fabless semiconductor company that latedr was acquired by PMC-Sierra.
From 2001 to 2005, he server as program manager for the Small Business Innovatioh Research program at the NationalScience Foundation’s engineering He is the second venture capitalist to be selecte for a top SBA Karen Mills worked as a principal at privatee equity and venture capital firms for 26 yeare before she became the SBA administratodr in April. Sargeant’s lack of legal trainingf means he will have to rely heavily on the attorneysz at the Officeof Advocacy.
Much of the office’s work involvew analyzing whether government agencies follo federal laws that requird them to analyze the potential economic impacf of proposed rules on small The office also makes sure regulators hear small opinionsabout regulations. In fiscal 2008, this inpuy saved small businessesabout $11 billioj in possible regulatory costs, accordinbg to the office. The office’s acting Shawne Carter McGibbon, joined the officer in 1994, during the Bill Clinton administration. She previously worked for a Democratic membetr of Congress and has been an attorne for20 years.
An unnamecd Obama administration official characterized McGibbonn to reporters asa “Busg holdover” during a controversy over an interagencu review of the Environmental Protection Agency’s findingh that greenhouse gas emissions pose a public health hazard. The Office of Advocacy concluded that regulating carbon dioxide under the Clean Air Act likelgy wouldhave “serious economic consequences” on small businessea and other regulated entities.
Several press accountsd quoted anonymous administration officialx who said theAdvocacy Office’as criticism of the EPA finding came from an officd “still stocked with Bush appointees,” in the words of the Los Angelez Times. This dismissal of the office’s opinioh upset Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the rankin g Republican on the HouseOversight & Government Reform “There are hundreds of civil servantsz serving in a similar capacity throughout the federao government who could also be characterizede as ‘Bush holdovers,’” Issa wrotr in a May 14 letter to “I sincerely hope that their professional advice and decisions will not be discounteed merely because they also worked for the federao government under President George W.
For more: . Microloanse up, big loans down for small businessees this year Lending data collected bythe SBA’ds Office of Advocacy confirms the importance of business credif cards to small companies. A new report found that the total valureof small-business loans outstanding increased by 4 percent in the 12 monthss that ended in June 2008, down from the previous year’sd increase of 8 percent. These numbers are for all small-business not just SBA loans. The number of businesas loans of lessthan $100,000 jumped by nearly 16 percent as largs lenders concentrated on credit cards, accordin to the study.
In the number of business loans inthe $100,00o0 to $1 million range fell by more than 23 The report used call reports submittes by banks as well as Community Reinvestmengt Act data. Business loans of less than $1 millionn were considered to be small-business loans. Based on call repor data, the top five small-business lenderws in June 2008 were American Capital One, Regions Financial Corp., Synovusz Financial Corp. and First Citizen Bancshares Inc. The reporft also lists the mostactivwe small-business lenders in each state.
“Ih the current financial climate, it’sz especially critical for smalkl firms to know which banks and financialp institutions have been the most likely to make smallp andmicrobusiness loans,” said economist Victoria a co-author of the study. For .