Isabella Casillas Guzman serves as the 27th Administrator of the U.S. Small Business
Administration (SBA) and was sworn in on Wednesday, March 17, 2021. Administrator
Guzman represents the more than 30 million U.S. small businesses and is committed to
helping small business owners and entrepreneurs start, grow and be resilient.
A lifelong proponent of small businesses, Guzman grew up as the daughter of a small
business owner and learned at a young age how important small businesses are to the
communities they serve, the people they employ, and the economies they help power.
Administrator Guzman previously served as Director of the California Office of the Small
Business Advocate, a position she held after being appointed by Governor Gavin
Newsom in April 2019. In that role, she served as the voice of small businesses and
innovative startups in the 5th largest economy in the world. She administered and
advocated for programs and initiatives to help small businesses access capital,
markets, and networks for stronger outcomes. She and her team helped connect
entrepreneurs in every community with the resources needed. As the economic
recovery support function coordinator for the state, she focused on resilience and most
recently worked to help small businesses access relief during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In California, Administrator Guzman oversaw a network of small business centers
focused on expanding assistance to underserved business groups. She launched new
public private partnerships and collaborated to deliver cutting edge resources to small
businesses, including through initiatives like Get Digital CA to increase technology and
e-commerce adoption and Source Diverse Source Local to strengthen supply chain
readiness. She advocated fiercely for financial relief for small businesses, leading to the
expansion of state supported lending and the largest COVID-19 grant relief program in
the nation at over $2.5 billion. Guzman's office launched the Entrepreneurship Task
Force to serve as a bridge to small businesses and create content and programs to help
strengthen the competitiveness of startup and small firms.
Administrator Guzman has previously served in leadership at the SBA as the agency’s
Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor during the Obama-Biden Administration,
where she oversaw policy and new program implementation. She was a small business
entrepreneur herself, and an advisor to fellow founders including in accelerating
technology commercialization and in helping small business contractors leverage the
federal marketplace. Administrator Guzman earned a Bachelor of Science from the
University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business.