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Karen Kerrigan, Founder of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council
Ms. Kerrigan has developed positive relationships with individuals in media, government, public policy and advocacy organizations, and the private sector that have led to substantive reforms and initiatives to help America’s entrepreneurial sector. In 1994, Ms. Kerrigan founded the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council ( www.sbecouncil.org), a prominent and respected advocacy and research organization with more than 70,000 members nationwide. She is President & CEO of Women Entrepreneurs Inc. ( www.we-inc.org), a nonprofit business association that helps women business owners succeed through education, networking and advocacy.
Ms. Kerrigan regularly testifies before the U.S. Congress on issues that impact America ’s small business and entrepreneurial sector. She meets often with delegations from around the world that wish to learn about public policy recommendations that will enhance and sustain entrepreneurial activity. In June 2002 she was appointed to serve on the National Women’s Business Council. In September 2002 she was appointed by the U.S. Treasury Secretary to serve on the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel (TAP). In 2003, at the President’s Economic Summit in Waco , TX she led the Small Business session, the outcome being the eventual enactment of legislative and policy ideas identified at the event. She also participated in the December 2004 White House Economic Summit where she served as a speaker on the Affordable Health Care panel. She helped construct the Women Entrepreneurship in the 21st Century conferences sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and Small Business Administration, and helped to implement the National Women’s Leadership Summit (Oct. 2004) and Flex Options for Women with the DoL’s Women’s Bureau.
Fortune Small Business named Ms. Kerrigan to its Power 30 list of key advocates in Washington , in September 2000. In 1995, National Journal named Ms. Kerrigan to its short list of " K Street " activists less than 40 years of age most likely to have an impact on Capitol Hill. Campaigns and Elections Magazine named her as one of its "Rising Stars in Politics" in its April 1996 issue. In May 2005 The Hill newspaper, quoting a top congressional staffer, called Kerrigan “the hardest working woman in show business” and credited her leadership of the SBE Council for making it one of the top 5 influential groups representing small business. She serves on the boards of the National Women’s Business Center of Washington, D.C., the Business & Industry Political Action Committee (BIPAC), and Americans for Technology Leadership. She chairs the Health Savings Account Coalition, which led the drive to enact HSAs as part of the Medicare RX package signed by President Bush.
Her commentary, analysis and written work have appeared in many of the nation’s leading newspapers. Since 1995, she has written a regular column for the American City Business Journals - an influential network of weekly business newspapers in 40 major markets. She has appeared on ABC`s Nightline, The McLaughlin Group, CNN, CNBC, and Fox News Television among others. She has been a guest on hundreds of radio talk shows.
Ms. Kerrigan is a native of New York , and holds a BA degree in Political Science from Cortland College (SUNY). She resides in Oakton , VA
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