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Rafaela Monchek

Official · SBA

PPP · EIDL
Type
Person
Role
Official · SBA
Programs
PPP, EIDL
Updated
  • Pandemic-program role: A career disaster-recovery executive in the SBA office that ran COVID-EIDL, signing the disaster declarations that open EIDL lending and serving as the named SBA management contact on the pandemic-loan-fraud OIG oversight.
  • Institution · office: SBA · Office of Disaster Recovery & Resilience (formerly Office of Disaster Assistance), Deputy Associate Administrator · Type: career
  • Tenure (relief-relevant): at SBA's disaster office since ~2016; Deputy AA through at least March 2025.

The job (role mechanics)

  • Level / appointment: Career civil servant; Deputy Associate Administrator, Office of Disaster Recovery & Resilience (formerly Office of Disaster Assistance); signing SBA disaster declarations since late 2016.
  • Reports to: The Associate Administrator for Disaster Recovery & Resilience (now Chris/James Stallings), and up to the Administrator. She served across both the Guzman (Biden) and Loeffler (Trump) administrations.
  • Core responsibility: Operational/administrative leadership in the disaster office that administered COVID-19 EIDL. She signs the disaster declarations and is the named SBA management contact on COVID-EIDL fraud-recovery OIG oversight.
  • Pay: No first-party document states her pay plan or step.
  • Expectations / mandate: Manage the disaster/EIDL program back office — sign declarations, support fraud-recovery oversight and OIG recommendation tracking, and run disaster-recovery operations.
  • Tenure norm: Continuing (career). Her actual service: at the disaster office since ~2016; confirmed as Deputy AA, ODRR through at least March 31, 2025.

Who they are

Rafaela Monchek is a career civil servant with roughly two decades in federal disaster recovery: Interior, FEMA, the White House National Security Council, and now SBA. At SBA she is Deputy Associate Administrator of the Office of Disaster Recovery & Resilience (the renamed Office of Disaster Assistance), the office that administered COVID-19 EIDL.12

Education

Not stated in a first-party source; her SBA bio lists no degrees.1

Career before the pandemic

Per her SBA bio, Monchek began her federal career at the Department of the Interior coordinating Everglades restoration, then joined FEMA in 2005 as a disaster-assistance employee after Hurricane Katrina, rising to senior housing-policy and operations roles at FEMA HQ and a DHS Homeland Security Senior Advisor posting (including support to the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force at HUD). From 2013 to 2015 she was Director for Recovery Policy at the White House National Security Council (drought, hurricanes, wildfires, the Oso mudslide, and the domestic Ebola response). She was FEMA's Deputy Assistant Administrator for National Preparedness immediately before joining SBA, where Federal Register records show her signing disaster declarations by late 2016.13

Role in the pandemic relief programs

Monchek is one of the SBA officials who signs the disaster declarations (the legal instruments that open EIDL/physical-disaster lending), and as Deputy AA she is the named SBA management contact on COVID-EIDL oversight, appearing on the distribution list for SBA OIG Report 25-10, the March 2025 update tracking SBA's progress on the open pandemic-loan-fraud recommendations.42 No public statement, signed COVID-EIDL rule, or congressional testimony by her was found.

Documents written or signed

  • Federal Register: SBA disaster declarations and amendments signed by her, 2016–2024, e.g., Oct. 20, 2017 (signed "Acting Associate Administrator for Disaster Assistance") and July 9, 2024 (signed "Deputy Associate Administrator, Office of Disaster Recovery & Resilience").354
  • Named SBA management contact (Deputy AA, ODRR) on SBA OIG Report 25-10, "COVID-19 Pandemic EIDL and PPP Loan Fraud Landscape Recommendations Update" (Mar. 31, 2025).2
  • She is not a witness in the Senate's COVID-EIDL oversight hearing transcript (CHRG-117shrg50573).6

Career after / where they are now

She was Deputy Associate Administrator, ODRR, as of March 31, 2025 (OIG 25-10, under Administrator Kelly Loeffler). The office reorganization that renamed Disaster Assistance to ODRR (and moved disaster lending to the Office of Capital Access in July 2022) was announced Feb. 1, 2023; at that point she reported to Associate Administrator Chris (James) Stallings. The last Federal Register disaster notice she signed was published February 6, 2025.278

Sources held in this archive

Original source documents and archived captures

Sources (first-party)

  1. SBA official bio, "Rafaela Monchek." SBA official bio, "Rafaela Monchek." (original: sba.gov) ↩
  2. SBA OIG Report 25-10, "COVID-19 Pandemic EIDL and PPP Loan Fraud Landscape Recommendations Update" (Mar. 31, 2025) — lists her as Deputy AA, ODRR. SBA Oig Report 25 10 (original: oversight.gov · stored capture) ↩
  3. Federal Register, Oct. 20, 2017, SBA disaster declaration signed "Rafaela Monchek, Acting Associate Administrator for Disaster Assistance." 2017 22928 Pdf D8004e491aaee23d (original: govinfo.gov · stored capture) ↩
  4. Federal Register search, all documents matching "Rafaela Monchek" (~251). Federal Register search, all documents matching "Rafaela Monchek" ~251 (original: federalregister.gov · stored capture) ↩
  5. Federal Register, July 9, 2024, SBA disaster amendment signed "Rafaela Monchek, Deputy Associate Administrator, Office of Disaster Recovery & Resilience." 2024 14831 Pdf 903ad75e861c3083 (original: govinfo.gov · stored capture) ↩
  6. Senate Small Business Committee, "Oversight of SBA's COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program," full transcript (CHRG-117shrg50573) — Monchek not a witness. Senate Small Business Committee, "Oversight of SBA's COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program," full transcript CH... (original: govinfo.gov · stored capture) ↩
  7. SBA, "Administrator Guzman Transforms SBA's Disaster Enterprise" (Feb. 1, 2023) — ODA→ODRR rename and reorganization. SBA, "Administrator Guzman Transforms SBA's Disaster Enterprise" Feb. 1, 2023 — ODA→ODRR rename and reorganization (original: sba.gov · stored capture) ↩
  8. SBA, Office of Disaster Recovery & Resilience page (leadership; office structure). SBA, Office of Disaster Recovery & Resilience page leadership; office structure (original: sba.gov · stored capture) ↩
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