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Patrick Kelley

Official · SBA

PPP · EIDL · Other programs
Type
Person
Role
Official · SBA
Programs
PPP, EIDL, Other programs
Updated
  • Pandemic-program role: Associate Administrator for the SBA Office of Capital Access (OCA), the official who ran PPP forgiveness operations and led the launch of the $28.6B Restaurant Revitalization Fund.
  • Institution · office: SBA · Office of Capital Access · Type: political appointee
  • Tenure (relief-relevant): Associate Administrator, OCA, from March 2021; departed SBA on or about May 11, 2023.

The job (role mechanics)

  • Level / appointment: Political appointee (non-career SES / Schedule C-type): Associate Administrator for Capital Access (named via SBA "Key Staff" announcement, Aug. 2021; in role from March 2021); not Senate-confirmed.
  • Reports to: The SBA Administrator (Isabella Casillas Guzman) / Deputy Administrator.
  • Core responsibility: Head of the Office of Capital Access: runs the 7(a)/504/microloan programs and the pandemic portfolio; operational owner of PPP forgiveness processing, COVID-EIDL servicing transition, and the launch of the $28.6B Restaurant Revitalization Fund; lead SBA witness to the small-business committees on relief implementation.
  • Pay: His salary is not in a first-party document.
  • Expectations / mandate: Execute relief-lending operations (PPP forgiveness, COVID-EIDL, RRF), administer the 7(a)/504 programs and later lending-rule changes, and testify before Congress.
  • Tenure norm: Serves at the pleasure of the President/Administrator (political). His actual tenure: AA OCA March 2021 – ~May 11, 2023.

Who they are

As Associate Administrator for SBA's Office of Capital Access from March 2021, Patrick Kelley oversaw the 7(a)/504/microloan programs and the pandemic-era portfolio: PPP forgiveness, COVID-EIDL servicing, and the stand-up of the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. He testified repeatedly before the House and Senate small-business committees on relief implementation.123

The SBA FY2021 Agency Financial Report spells his name "Patrick Kelly" in its audit-response distribution list.4

Education

B.A., Colgate University; J.D., Boston College Law School.1

Career before the pandemic

Kelley had two stints at SBA bracketing a private-sector banking career. In an earlier SBA tenure he served as Deputy Chief of Staff, Deputy Associate Administrator, and Senior Advisor, where (per his official bio) he oversaw the agency's roughly $100 billion loan portfolio and the small-business government-contractor set-aside programs. He then moved to Live Oak Bank (Live Oak Bancshares), serving as Executive Vice President for Channel Partnerships on the bank's Corporate Strategy and Development team; his bio credits his unit with originating over $500 million in small-business and asset-based loans to federal government contractors. He returned to SBA in March 2021 to lead OCA.12

Role in the pandemic relief programs

As OCA chief, Kelley was the operational owner of the relief-lending programs. Within OCA, the Office of Financial Assistance, which issued the PPP procedural notices governing lender processing, was run by Dianna L. Seaborn. He was SBA's lead witness on the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, telling the Senate Small Business Committee that SBA was targeting a phased April launch for the $28.6 billion fund (registration opened April 30, applications May 3, 2021). He also testified on SBA's later moves to expand 7(a) lending (including admitting new non-bank/fintech lenders).35

Documents written or signed

  • Senate Small Business Committee testimony, "Testimony of Patrick Kelley, Associate Administrator, Office of Capital Access" (RRF / capital-access implementation). Kelley Testimony (original: sbc.senate.gov · stored capture) 3
  • House Small Business Committee witness biography, Patrick Kelley, hearing of May 18, 2022 (congress.gov). Hhrg 117 Sm00 Bio Kelleyp 20220518 Pdf 3d6c1b0803c5c2c7 (original: congress.gov · stored capture) 1
  • House Small Business Committee testimony, May 10, 2023 (one of his final appearances before departing SBA).6
  • Named in the addressee of the FY2021 AFR audit-response distribution as Associate Administrator, Capital Access.4

Career after / where they are now

Kelley left SBA abruptly around May 11, 2023, shortly after his May 10 House testimony. The departure prompted a bipartisan letter to Administrator Guzman from House Small Business Chair Roger Williams and Ranking Member Nydia Velázquez and Senate Small Business Chair Ben Cardin and Ranking Member Joni Ernst, who called the timing "extremely concerning" given SBA's then-pending 7(a) lending-rule changes and urged the agency to pause them. His post-SBA position is not stated in a first-party document.78

Sources held in this archive

Original source documents and archived captures

Sources (first-party)

  1. House Small Business Committee, Patrick Kelley witness biography (hearing May 18, 2022) — Colgate University; Boston College Law School; prior SBA Deputy Chief of Staff / Deputy Associate Administrator / Senior Advisor; Live Oak Bank EVP. Hhrg 117 Sm00 Bio Kelleyp 20220518 Pdf 3d6c1b0803c5c2c7 (original: congress.gov · stored capture) ↩
  2. SBA press release, "U.S. Small Business Administration Announces Key Staff," August 18, 2021 (names Patrick Kelley, Associate Administrator for the Office of Capital Access). SBA press release, "U.S. Small Business Administration Announces Key Staff," August 18, 2021 names Patrick Kelley, As... (original: sba.gov · stored capture) ↩
  3. Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship, "Testimony of Patrick Kelley, Associate Administrator, Office of Capital Access." Kelley Testimony (original: sbc.senate.gov · stored capture) ↩
  4. SBA FY2021 Agency Financial Report — audit-response distribution list names "Patrick Kelly, Associate Administrator, Capital Access" (misspelling of Kelley). Agency Financial Report, Fiscal Year 2021 — U.S. Small Business Administration (original: sba.gov · stored capture) (link now dead; copy taken from the Internet Archive, 10 April 2023) ↩
  5. House Small Business Committee letter to Patrick Kelley re: 7(a) programs, April 20–21, 2023. 04 21 2023 Hsbc Letter To SBA Re 7a Programs Pdf 6bef3974383280d3 (original: smallbusiness.house.gov · stored capture) ↩
  6. House Small Business Committee Democrats, "Testimony Prepared for SBA Associate Administrator Patrick Kelley," May 10, 2023. Congressional testimony — Patrick Kelley, SBA Office of Capital Access (May 10, 2023) (original: democrats-smallbusiness.house.gov · stored capture) ↩
  7. House Committee on Small Business, "Chairmen Williams and Cardin with Ranking Members Ernst and Velázquez, Pen Letter to SBA Administrator Guzman on the Departure of Former Associate Administrator Kelley." House Committee on Small Business, "Chairmen Williams and Cardin with Ranking Members Ernst and Velázquez, Pen Letter... (original: smallbusiness.house.gov · stored capture) ↩
  8. ABA Banking Journal, "Committee heads ask SBA to pause small business lending changes," May 2023 (reports Kelley's ~May 11, 2023 departure) — secondary, used for departure date corroboration. ABA Banking Journal, "Committee heads ask SBA to pause small business lending changes," May 2023 reports Kelley's ~Ma... (original: bankingjournal.aba.com · stored capture) ↩
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