With newest appointees, SBA’s experienced regional leadership team will collectively strengthen the agency’s impact and outreach to millions of small businesses across 44 states, three U.S. territories, and Washington D.C.
Washington, Jan. 27, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the voice for America’s 32.5 million small businesses in President Biden’s Cabinet, issued the following statement praising President Biden’s appointment of Geri Sanchez Aglipay as Regional Administrator for the Great Lakes region and Vercie Lark as Regional Administrator for the Great Plains region:
“As we work to support the millions of small businesses and innovative startups that are powering our nation’s historic economic recovery, I am delighted to welcome our new regional administrators - champions who will work hard to help the SBA meet our small businesses where they are,” said SBA Administrator Guzman. “Geri and Vercie bring valuable entrepreneurial and technical expertise to our growing team of dedicated public servants. Their service comes at an important time for our agency and America as we pivot to be more customer-centric, technology forward, and equitable than ever. With these new additions to an already skilled regional leadership team, the SBA is now in an even better position to lift up the millions of entrepreneurs working to start, grow, and take advantage of new opportunities available thanks to President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and America’s strong and growing economic recovery.”
Region V (Five)
As Region V Administrator, Geri Sanchez Aglipay will oversee SBA programs, offices, and operations in the SBA’s Great Lakes region, serving Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
Ms. Aglipay is a second-generation American and a daughter of a veteran with over 20 years of experience in the workforce, entrepreneurship, and economic development. She is passionate about strengthening collaborative innovation across sectors and industries to create more equitable paths to financial security for small business owners and the self-employed, especially for socially and economically disadvantaged communities. Prior to the SBA, she served as Director of the Midwest Region and National Manager of Women’s Entrepreneurship for Small Business Majority, where she expanded and directed the organization’s strategic education programs, policy, research, and financial development efforts in the Midwest and oversaw women’s entrepreneurship nationwide to address disparities. In addition, she has served as commissioner of the Cook County Commission for Social Innovation; co-chair of Racial Wealth Gap Committee of Financial Inclusion for All Illinois; and on the advisory council of HHS NIOSH Center of Excellence UIC Center for Healthy Work. She is a graduate of Bradley University.