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Michael Roth

Official · SBA

PPP
Type
Person
Role
Official · SBA
Programs
PPP
Updated
  • Pandemic-program role: Senior Advisor who ran SBA's Office of Capital Access / PPP operations day-to-day during the 2021 Biden transition.
  • Institution · office: SBA · Office of the Administrator (Senior Advisor; operational lead on Capital Access/PPP) · Type: political (Biden-Harris transition appointee)
  • Tenure (relief-relevant): ~mid-January – late March 2021 (~10 weeks).

The job (role mechanics)

  • Level / appointment: Political appointee (Biden-Harris transition; non-career) — "Senior Advisor to the Administrator." Not Senate-confirmed and never the Administrator.
  • Reports to: The (Acting) Administrator, Tami Perriello; the Office of the Administrator.
  • Core responsibility: SBA's quoted voice on PPP operations during the early-2021 transition (the Feb. 10, 2021 processing fixes; the Mar. 11, 2021 American Rescue Plan statement). No signing authority (the instruments were signed by Acting Administrator Perriello and, at the very end, James Rivera).
  • Pay: We have no first-party salary or grade record for this role.
  • Expectations / mandate: Advise the Acting Administrator and speak for the agency on PPP operations.
  • Tenure norm: Serves at the pleasure of the President/Administrator (political; a short transition appointment). His actual service: ~mid-January – late March 2021 (~10 weeks), ending at Guzman's swearing-in.

Who they are

A small-business-advisory executive who served as Senior Advisor to the Administrator at SBA during the early-2021 transition, until Isabella Guzman took office; the New Jersey Globe later described him as having spent "two months" as the agency's "temporary leader."

Education

B.A., Lehigh University; M.B.A., the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. (Per the New Jersey Globe profile and his campaign bio.)

Career before the pandemic

Executive at Next Street (a small-business advisory/community-investment firm) and related community-investment roles, before joining the Biden-Harris transition.

Role in the pandemic relief programs

While Acting Administrator Tami Perriello held the office and signed the instruments, Roth was the SBA official quoted on PPP operations: SBA's February 10, 2021 release on processing fixes quotes "SBA Senior Advisor to the Administrator Michael Roth," and its March 11, 2021 American Rescue Plan release carries a "Statement from SBA Senior Advisor Michael Roth."

Documents written or signed

None requiring the Administrator's signature. The legal instruments of this period were signed by Perriello (and, at the very end of the transition, James Rivera).

Career after / where they are now

Returned to Next Street after the transition. In 2025 he launched a campaign for Congress in New Jersey's 7th district (2026 cycle); his campaign bio describes his SBA role as having "Led the U.S. Small Business Administration through the Pandemic," while SBA's own releases identify him as Senior Advisor to the Administrator.

Sources held in this archive

Original source documents and archived captures

Sources (first-party)

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