Thank you, Jim, for that warm introduction.
It’s an honor to be here today as part of the 2021 ESOP Association National Conference – in person! Thank you to the ESOP Association Board of Directors for welcoming me here today.
It’s also a privilege to follow Senator Wyden at this podium.
Together with Senator Cardin, ---Senator Wyden worked hard to ensure that ESOPs also received Paycheck Protection Program funding from the SBA.
Their actions made it possible for many employee-owned firms to keep their doors open.
And to the many ESOP-owned businesses and advocates here today. I want you to know that the SBA is also committed to helping you continue to keep your doors open as we recover and build back better from COVID and the related economic crisis.
Firms with employees at the helm are not only an important force in our nation’s economy – holding assets of more than $1.4 trillion dollars -- but are arguably stronger and more productive as a result of that employee operator structure – especially today with worker shortages.
Employee ownership is the wave of the future and ESOPs are building communities - creating locally-rooted jobs.
Congress understood the importance of employee-owned small businesses when they passed the Main Street Employee Ownership Act in 2018 authored by Congresswoman Velazquez. The Act was an important step in helping advance SBA’s tools and authority to help more small businesses transition to employee ownership.
Under my leadership, we will continue to modernize SBA’s 7(a) lending program to make it easier for employee-owned firms to access capital. And, we will continue to work through our Small Business Investment Companies, or SBICs, to open up more cumulative capital and leverage to ESOPs.
We will also work to expand technical assistance–provided by our Small Business Development Centers and other resource partners – that can help founders convert to employee ownership.
My top priority as the voice for America’s 30 million small businesses and innovative startups is to bridge the gaps to support ALL our nation’s small businesses in accessing capital, markets and networks to launch, grow and be resilient.
And, in order to ensure that we’re reaching every entrepreneur who needs our help, we must put the customer-first and understand their needs and how we can help.
And we need to be technology-forward - to leverage technology, streamline, automate for speed and efficiency.
Ultimately, its about being as entrepreneurial as the entrepreneurs we serve and meeting the small businesses where THEY are.
The SBA has scaled dramatically from a $40 billion dollar portfolio to more than $1 trillion in relief – disbursing loans, grants, debt relief and other resources to help our nation’s small businesses weather this unprecedented storm.
President Biden’s American Rescue Plan provided critical relief to our small businesses through the expansion of PPP, Shuttered Venues and grants to small and low-income businesses to the new Restaurant revitalization Fund. We focused on equity – ensuring our undeserved small businesses – women, veterans, people of color, rural and low-income communities could access these programs more easily unlike previous relief.
Now, as we begin to transition to the recovery phase of this crisis, we’re looking at ways that we can help our small businesses thrive.
President Biden’s proposed American Jobs Plan will give many of our nation’s small businesses – including employee-owned firms - a chance to be part of the rebuilding and reimagining of our economy.
Through the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan, President Biden has laid out plans to take on major challenges to fortify our foundation: strengthening our industrial and innovation base to ensure that the future is made in America; investing in sustainable infrastructure and laying the foundation for a clean energy future; investing in our caring economy to ease the burden of care on working families; and advancing racial equity across the board to ensure that Americans in every community see the benefits of a revitalized economy and renewed US global competitiveness.
The President aims to establish the U.S. as a leader in innovation and R&D to lay the foundation for future breakthroughs that over time yield new businesses, new jobs, and more exports. We used to be the net exporter of major technologies and now China has surpassed us. He wants to bring that back by making the single biggest investment in American innovation and competitiveness since World War II, to supercharge the future of transportation and manufacturing.
Employee-owned firms, many of which are found in the manufacturing and construction industries, will have a big role to play in this “Made in America” innovation economy.
We know that the nation’s small businesses are key drivers of our nation’s economy. Which means that if we’re going to bring our economy back, we’ve got to bring our small businesses back.
The SBA is here to help and I look forward to working together with all of you to do just that.
Thank you.