Thursday, September 17, 2009

"Small Business Committee Backs Inspector General and Chief Counsel for Advocacy"

16 September 2009

WASHINGTON – The United States Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship today reported out favorably the nominations of Peggy E. Gustafson to be the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Inspector General and Winslow Lorenzo Sargeant to be the Agency’s Chief Counsel for Advocacy. Gustafson and Sargeant must now be confirmed by the full Senate.

“I am pleased that President Obama nominated such talented individuals to top positions at the SBA,” Senator Mary Landrieu, Chair of the Small Business Committee, said in a statement. “With capable leaders like Dr. Sargeant and Ms. Gustafson at the helm, we’re hopeful the agency will be more ready than ever to play an important role in assisting small businesses as they continue to lead this country to an economic recovery. We look forward to working with them and to a new era for the SBA and American small businesses.

“There is no statutory requirement that the Chief Counsel be an attorney, rather the Chief Counsel is an advocate for small businesses in the regulatory process and an important source of research on small business and that is exactly what Dr. Sargeant will be. As someone who has regulatory experience both as a small business owner and at a federal agency, he understands all the challenges small businesses face. Democrats and Republicans alike support Dr. Sargeant’s nomination, including the last two Chief Counsels for Advocacy who were nominated by President Bush, because he is uniquely qualified and an exceptional leader,” said Senator Landrieu.

Dr. Sargeant is currently the Managing Director of Venture Investors, a Midwest venture capital company with a concentration on starting up healthcare and technology companies. Previously, he co-founded Aanetcom, a technology company now owned by PMC Sierra (a publicly-owned company) and served as a program manager for the Small Business Innovation Research program in electronics at the National Science Foundation.

Peggy Gustafson currently serves as the General Counsel for Senator Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. Before working as General Counsel for Senator McCaskill here in Washington, Ms. Gustafson worked for her when the Senator was the Prosecutor for Jackson County, Missouri. She also served on the Kansas City Fraud Task Force, the Kansas City Arson Task Force and taught at the University of Missouri School of Law.