Deborah Chen

Deborah Chen serves as the Deputy Chief Financial Officer (Deputy CFO) within the Office of Performance, Planning, and the Chief Financial Officer, reporting to the Chief Financial Officer and Associate Administrator for Performance Management (CFO). The Deputy CFO serves as a policy advisor to the CFO and Administrator on matters relating to financial management, budget, financial statement audit and remediation, acquisitions, program evaluation, and DATA Act for financial systems and credit reform. This position, in conjunction with the CFO, provides leadership and direction in the development and execution of the financial management program of the Agency in accordance with federal mandates.

Prior to this appointment, Deborah served as the Budget Director at SBA, overseeing strategic resource management on behalf of the Agency. She directed the financial planning and controls of over $4 billion in administrative appropriations and reimbursable resources, over $80 billion in grant funding, and over $875 billion in credit subsidies, equating to nearly $1.3 trillion in guaranteed and direct loan authority for the SBA’s pandemic response. 

Before joining the SBA, Deborah served as the Budget Division Director for Data Analysis at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, where she was responsible for managing over $20 billion in diverse budgetary resources and led a financial statement audit remediation plan that improved CFO cross-functional understanding and processes to resolve audit findings.

Deborah holds her Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Georgia and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Michigan.