Administrator of the Small Business Administration

The administrator of the Small Business Administration is the head of the Small Business Administration of the United States. The administrator is responsible for managing and the day-to-day operations of the agency. The administrator is nominated by the president of the United States and must be confirmed by a vote of the Senate.

Administrator of Small Business Administration
Seal of the Small Business Administration
Incumbent Kelly Loeffler since February 20, 2025
Small Business Administration
Seat	409 3rd Street SW, Washington, D.C. 20416
Appointer	The president with Senate advice and consent
Term length	No fixed term
Constituting instrument	15 U.S.C. § 633
Inaugural holder	William D. Mitchell
Formation	July 30, 1953
Deputy	Deputy Administrator
Salary	Executive Schedule, level III
Website	www.sba.gov

In January 2012, President Barack Obama announced that the SBA administrator would be elevated to Cabinet rank, a position it last held during the Clinton administration.^[1][2][3]

The most recent confirmed administrator was Kelly Loeffler, who was nominated by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate on February 20, 2025.^[4]

List of administrators

  Denotes an acting administrator of the Small Business Administration

The following is a chronological list of those who have held the office:

No.	Image	Name	Start	End	Refs.	President(s)
1		William D. Mitchell	August 1, 1953	October 30, 1953			Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953–1961)
2		Wendell B. Barnes	February 9, 1954	November 21, 1959
3		Philip McCallum	November 23, 1959	January 20, 1961
4		John E. Horne	February 2, 1961	August 7, 1963			John F. Kennedy (1961–1963)
5		Eugene P. Foley	August 8, 1963	September 10, 1965
							Lyndon B. Johnson (1963–1969)
6		Bernard L. Boutin	May 19, 1966	July 31, 1967
7		Robert C. Moot	August 1, 1967	July 31, 1968
8		Howard J. Samuels	August 1, 1968	February 22, 1969
9		Hilary J. Sandoval Jr.	March 5, 1969	January 1, 1971			Richard Nixon (1969–1974)
10		Thomas S. Kleppe	January 18, 1971	October 12, 1975
							Gerald Ford (1974–1977)
11		Mitchell P. Kobelinski	February 12, 1976	March 4, 1977
12		A. Vernon Weaver	April 1, 1977	January 20, 1981			Jimmy Carter (1977–1981)
13		Michael Cardenas	March 30, 1981	February 3, 1982			Ronald Reagan (1981–1989)
14		James C. Sanders	March 29, 1982	March 31, 1986
–		Charles Heatherly Acting	March 31, 1986	March 23, 1987
15		James Abdnor	March 23, 1987	April 20, 1989
16		Susan Engeleiter	April 20, 1989	March 27, 1991			George H. W. Bush (1989–1993)
17		Pat Saiki	March 27, 1991	January 20, 1993
–		Dayton J. Watkins Acting	January 20, 1993	May 12, 1993			Bill Clinton (1993–2001)
18		Erskine Bowles	May 12, 1993	October 6, 1994
–		Cassandra M. Pulley Acting	October 6, 1994	October 8, 1994
19		Philip Lader	October 8, 1994	February 11, 1997
–		Ginger Lew Acting	February 11, 1997	March 7, 1997
20		Aída Álvarez	March 7, 1997	January 20, 2001
–		John D. Whitmore Acting	January 20, 2001	July 25, 2001			George W. Bush (2001–2009)
21		Hector Barreto	July 25, 2001	July 2, 2006
22		Steve Preston	July 10, 2006	June 5, 2008
–		Sandy Baruah Acting	June 5, 2008	January 20, 2009
–		Darryl Hairston Acting	January 20, 2009	April 6, 2009			Barack Obama (2009–2017)
23		Karen Mills	April 6, 2009	September 1, 2013	[5]
–		Jeanne Hulit Acting	September 1, 2013	February 7, 2014	[6]
–		Marianne Markowitz Acting	February 7, 2014	April 7, 2014
24		Maria Contreras-Sweet	April 7, 2014	January 20, 2017	[7]
–		Joseph Loddo Acting	January 20, 2017	February 14, 2017			Donald Trump (2017–2021)
25		Linda McMahon	February 14, 2017	April 12, 2019	[8]
–		Chris Pilkerton Acting	April 13, 2019	January 14, 2020
26		Jovita Carranza	January 14, 2020	January 20, 2021	[9]
–		Tami Perriello Acting	January 20, 2021	March 17, 2021	[10][11][12]		Joe Biden (2021–2025)
27		Isabel Guzman	March 17, 2021	January 20, 2025	[13]
–		Everett Woodel Acting	January 20, 2025	February 20, 2025	[14]		Donald Trump (2025–present)
28		Kelly Loeffler	February 20, 2025	present	[15]

Line of succession

The line of succession for the administrator of the Small Business Administration is as follows:^[16]

1. Chief of Staff
2. General Counsel
3. Associate Administrator; Office of Capital Access
4. Associate Administrator, Office of Disaster Assistance
5. Regional Administrator for Region IX (Phoenix, Arizona)
6. Regional Administrator for Region VIII (Denver, Colorado)