Isabel Casillas Guzman

27th Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)

Isabel Casillas Guzman is the 27th Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration and serves in President Biden’s Cabinet as the leading advocate for America’s 33 million small businesses and innovative startups.

Guzman has made advancing entrepreneurship her life’s work. Growing up, she worked alongside her father in his chain of veterinary hospitals, an experience that shaped her understanding of entrepreneurship and its transformative effect on customers and on communities. She went on to launch her own businesses across a range of industries and advise other founders in paving their way to the American Dream of business ownership. She served as SBA’s Deputy Chief of Staff in the Obama-Biden Administration and then led the California Office of the Small Business Advocate. In early 2021, President Biden asked her to lead the SBA, and her nomination was confirmed by a bipartisan vote in the U.S. Senate.

Under Guzman’s leadership, the agency manages a $500 billion portfolio and deploys $40 billion in funding annually to America’s small business owners. As administrator, she spearheaded key agency initiatives to deliver essential pandemic assistance to the most vulnerable small businesses and underserved communities. She has also implemented effective strategies that help small businesses and innovative startups gain unprecedented access to capital, contracting, professional networks, technical training, digital tools and disaster support. As a result, more than ever before, millions of America’s entrepreneurs have the resources they need to start, grow and build resilient businesses.