18 Facts About Karen Mills

Karen Gordon Mills was born on September 14,1953 and is an American businessperson and former government official who served as the 23rd Administrator of the US Small Business Administration.

Karen Mills was nominated by President-elect Barack Obama on December 19,2008, confirmed unanimously by the Senate on April 2,2009, and sworn in on April 6,2009.

Since leaving the SBA, Mills has served as a Senior Fellow at Harvard Business School and Harvard's John F Kennedy School of Government.

Karen Mills is the president of the investment firm MMP Group, Inc.

Karen Mills received a Bachelor of Arts in economics from Harvard University and an MBA from Harvard Business School, where she was a Baker Scholar.

Karen Mills served on the state's Council for the Redevelopment of the Brunswick Naval Air Station.

In 2005, Karen Mills became involved with the effort to create new jobs following the closing of the Brunswick Naval Air Station.

Karen Mills helped organize the North Star Alliance, a partnership between local boat builders, composite material manufacturers, and researchers at the University of Maine, which has helped increase the global competitiveness of Maine's boat building and composite industries.

Karen Mills went on to organize the creation of a specialty foods cluster in Maine, with specialty producers, such as Peak Organic Beer, taking advantage of Maine's local agriculture.

Karen Mills oversaw implementation of key provisions of President Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, including the waiving of fees on SBA-backed loans and increasing the agency's government guarantee on loans made by private sector lenders.

Under Karen Mills, SBA launched the Impact Fund pilot program, under the agency's Small Business Investment Company program, with the goal of capitalizing investment funds that seek both financial and social return, as well as its first regional clusters initiative.

Karen Mills received praise for her leadership of the agency from the lending industry because of her work to tackle outdated regulations, bureaucracy and strengthening and simplifying the agency's core loan programs.

Since leaving the SBA, Karen Mills has served as a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Business School and was previously a Senior Fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School.

In 2013, Karen Mills returned to her position as president of MMP Group, Inc.

Karen Mills served on the board of the Maine Technology Institute, a nonprofit that invests in local technology companies and innovative small businesses.

Karen Mills is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and previously served as a vice chairman of the Harvard Board of Overseers, the older, more consultative, and larger of the two Harvard governing bodies.

Karen Mills is the recipient of the US Navy's Distinguished Public Service Award and a regular contributor to Fortune and other publications, writing primarily on the economy, small business and entrepreneurship.

Karen Mills is married to Barry Mills, who served as president of Bowdoin College from October 2001 to July 2015, and has three sons.