Mills leads a team of 3,000 employees whose mission is to help entrepreneurs and small business owners grow and create jobs by providing greater access to capital, counseling, federal contracting opportunities, disaster assistance and more. Among its priorities, the SBA has a portfolio of more than $90 billion in loan guarantees. Each year, the agency helps leverage nearly $100 billion in federal contracts to small businesses and supports free counseling and technical assistance to more than 1 million entrepreneurs. In addition, SBA provides disaster assistance to homeowners, renters, and businesses with the help of 2,000 additional on-call employees.
Throughout her career, Mills has owned, managed, mentored, and invested in small and growing businesses across the country.
As an investor and owner, she helped several small manufacturers improve their competitiveness and ultimately survive the downturn of the early 1990s. This included producers of hardwood flooring, refrigerator motor manufacturers, plastic injection molding companies, and more. More recently, she was President of the MMP Group, which invested and grew businesses in sectors such as consumer products, food, textiles, and industrial components.
In 2007, Maine Gov. John Baldacci appointed Mills to chair the state’s Council on Competitiveness and the Economy, where she focused on attracting investment in rural and regional development initiatives, including a regional economic cluster with Maine’s boatbuilding industry. She also served on the Governor’s Council for the Redevelopment of the Brunswick Naval Air Station.
In her current position, Mills has helped expand access to capital through SBA lending, increase small business’ share of federal contracts, strengthen SBA’s network of more than 14,000 affiliated counselors, and oversee critical disaster assistance operations across the country.
Mills earned an A.B. in economics from Harvard University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School where she was a Baker Scholar. Additionally, she served as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and was vice chairman of the Harvard Overseers.
She and her husband, Barry Mills, president of Bowdoin College, live in Brunswick, Maine. They have three sons.
Follow the U.S. Small Business Administration on Twitter @SBAgov.
Karen Mills's Posts
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A Nation of Immigrants and Entrepreneurs
August 8, 2013 at 10:09 AM EDTAcross the United States, immigrants are starting and building successful businesses that create good American jobs and promote our country’s economic growth. These businesses form the fabric of our communities, and are part of our uniquely American heritage as a nation of immigrants and innovators.
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Una nación de inmigrantes y empresarios
August 7, 2013 at 5:46 PM EDTA lo largo de los Estados Unidos, los inmigrantes están empezando y construyendo negocios exitosos que crean buenos puestos de trabajo americanos y promueven el crecimiento económico de nuestro país. Estos negocios forman la estructura de nuestras comunidades y son parte de la herencia tan singularmente americana que tenemos como nación de inmigrantes e innovadores.
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50 Years of National Small Business Week
June 17, 2013 at 10:30 AM EDTThis week marks the 50th anniversary of National Small Business Week.
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Shop Small on Saturday, November 24th 2012
November 19, 2012 at 4:00 PM EDTSmall Business Saturday is a date set aside to support the small businesses that play a vital role in creating jobs and economic opportunities across the country.
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An Inclusive Vision Of Entrepreneurship
October 9, 2012 at 4:11 PM EDTThe Small Business Administration is focused on ensuring that small business owners and entrepreneurs have the access and opportunity they need to turn great ideas into viable and successful businesses, and continues to look for new ways to support and strengthen women small business owners and entrepreneurs.
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Small Business Owners Speak-Share Your Story with SBA and Other Aspiring Entrepreneurs
August 28, 2012 at 11:46 AM EDTAdministrator Karen Mills meets with small business owners across the country to hear stories about why they started a business and how SBA was an important resource to make it happen.
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Assistance for Small Businesses Affected by the Drought
August 8, 2012 at 12:01 PM EDTA guide to the tools and the resources hard hit communities need to navigate and recover from these severe drought conditions
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SBA Stands Ready to Help More Veterans Start (and Grow) a Business
July 24, 2012 at 5:17 PM EDTLearn about the ways SBA is working on behalf of Veterans to give them the best opportunity to start or grow a small business
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SBA Announces National Small Business Week Video Contest Winners
May 23, 2012 at 3:00 PM EDTSmall Business Administrator Karen Mills announces the winners of a video contest that asked small business owners to share their stories explaining how their business benefited from the SBA and makes a difference in their local community.
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White House Hangout: Small Business Week with SBA Administrator Karen Mills
May 21, 2012 at 11:02 AM EDTOn Wednesday, May 23, 2012, at 3:00 pm ET, Small Business Administrator Karen Mills will join a Google+ Hangout to announce the SBA video contest winners and discuss how SBA assistance helped their small business and what inspired their successes.
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