Isabella Casillas Guzman, the new Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), on April 1 announced Antwaun Griffin will serve as the agency’s new chief of staff. The announcement comes a few weeks after Guzman was confirmed to serve in the SBA’s top role. “Antwaun will play a critical role in navigating our agency through […]
Isabella Casillas Guzman, the new Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), on April 1 announced Antwaun Griffin will serve as the agency’s new chief of staff.
The announcement comes a few weeks after Guzman was confirmed to serve in the SBA’s top role.
“Antwaun will play a critical role in navigating our agency through the incredible challenges ahead as we ramp up delivery of vital economic aid to our small businesses,” Guzman said. “He is fiercely committed to helping our small businesses and entrepreneurs start, grow, and be resilient — particularly our underserved communities. His wealth of private and public-sector leadership and management experience, including three years of experience at SBA in the office of field operations, will bring the expertise needed for this crucial moment.”
Griffin previously served as the chief policy advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce on pandemic and economic-recovery programs. He worked with internal and external stakeholders, including the White House COVID-19 task force, CDC, and more.
Guzman confirmation
Guzman on March 16 was confirmed as the 27th administrator of the SBA on an 81-17 vote.
It is Guzman’s second tenure at the SBA, having served in the Obama administration as a senior advisor and the deputy chief of staff, where she oversaw the SBA’s adoption of improved policies, technology, and program initiatives to make SBA “more accessible to entrepreneurs of all backgrounds,” the agency contends.
Guzman leads a workforce of more than 9,000 SBA employees and administers the SBA’s portfolio of loans, investments, disaster assistance, contracting, and counseling. Additionally, she will implement financial relief for small businesses impacted by the pandemic through the Paycheck Protection Program, Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program, and additional support recently passed in the American Rescue Plan.
“Growing up in an entrepreneurial family, I learned firsthand the ins and outs of managing a business from my father and gained an appreciation for the challenges small business owners face every day. Throughout my public and private sector career, I have been dedicated to helping small businesses grow and succeed,” Guzman said. “Now more than ever, our impacted small businesses need our support, and the SBA stands ready to help them reopen and thrive.”
Most recently, she served as the director of California’s Office of the Small Business Advocate, where she served California’s four million small businesses, which employ 7.1 million Californians.
Before her public-service career, Guzman was a small-business entrepreneur and an advisor to fellow founders, including in accelerating technology commercialization and in helping small-business contractors leverage the federal marketplace.
Guzman replaces Jovita Carranza, who served as SBA administrator during the last year of the Trump administration. She led the agency’s response to the pandemic including the rollout of all its relief programs for small business. Linda McMahon was the SBA administrator in the first two-plus years of the Trump administration.