Karen Mills
Karen Gordon Mills | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 14, 1953 United States |
| Occupation(s) | Entrepreneur, writer, government official |
| Years active | 1980s–present |
| Known for | 23rd Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration |
| Notable work | Fintech, Small Business & the American Dream |
Karen Gordon Mills (born September 14, 1953) is an American entrepreneur, writer, and former government official who held the position of the 23rd Administrator at the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). President-elect Barack Obama nominated her on December 19, 2008; the Senate confirmed her appointment unanimously on April 2, 2009, and she officially assumed office on April 6, 2009. During her administration, the SBA was elevated to Cabinet-level status, enhancing her role in shaping policy and securing her participation in presidential cabinet meetings. Mills declared her intention to resign on February 11, 2013, and officially stepped down on September 1, 2013.
Following her departure from the SBA, Mills took on the role of Senior Fellow at both Harvard Business School and Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. She leads MMP Group, Inc., an investment company, and retired from Harvard University on June 27, 2025. Subsequently, on June 2, 2025, she was named President of Tootsie Roll Industries. Mills has been a frequent contributor to Fortune as well as other media outlets. She is the author of Fintech, Small Business & the American Dream, initially published in 2018 with a second edition released in 2024.
Early life and education
Mills is the daughter of Ellen (née Rubin), who has served as CEO of Tootsie Roll since 2015, and Melvin Gordon, who was president and CEO of Tootsie Roll Industries from 1962 until 2015. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and an MBA from Harvard Business School, where she graduated as a Baker Scholar.
Career
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Mills managed and invested in multiple small manufacturing enterprises across the United States, including companies producing hardwood flooring, refrigerator motors, and plastic injection molding products.
Prior to her SBA appointment, she served as president of MMP Group, a private equity firm specializing in consumer goods, food products, textiles, and industrial parts. Additionally, she co-founded Solera Capital, a New York-based venture capital firm that supported women-led businesses such as Annie's natural food company.
In 2007, Maine Governor John Baldacci appointed Mills as chair of the state's Council on Competitiveness and the Economy with a focus on rural development and regional growth. She also played a role in redeveloping the Brunswick Naval Air Station.
Her earlier professional background includes management consulting positions at McKinsey & Company in both the United States and Europe, product management at General Foods, and board memberships with Scotts Miracle-Gro and Arrow Electronics.
Clustering
Mills advocates for regional innovation clusters—geographic groupings of interconnected industries that promote shared resources and enhance competitiveness. After the closure of Brunswick Naval Air Station in 2005, she assisted in establishing the North Star Alliance to connect local boat builders, composite manufacturers, and researchers from the University of Maine to strengthen Maine’s position in global boat building and composite materials markets.
She also facilitated the creation of a specialty foods cluster in Maine by capitalizing on local agricultural strengths for producers such as Peak Organic Beer. As chair of Maine’s Council on Competitiveness and the Economy in 2007, Mills concentrated efforts on attracting investments to rural regions and regional industries.
Building upon this work, she authored a paper for the Brookings Institution in 2008 addressing regional innovation clusters.
US Small Business Administration
Founded in 1953, the Small Business Administration is dedicated to enhancing access to capital, expanding government contracting opportunities, fostering entrepreneurial growth, and providing disaster assistance. During President Obama's administration, small enterprises became a pivotal element in the economic recovery following the Great Recession. Democrat Karen Mills was appointed as SBA Administrator in early 2009 amid a lending standstill that affected even SBA-backed loans. She executed important measures from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, including eliminating fees on SBA-backed loans and raising government guarantees, which led to a more than 60 percent surge in weekly loan volumes.
Mills championed the bipartisan Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, considered the most impactful small business legislation in over ten years. This legislation prolonged Recovery Act loan provisions, increased SBA-guaranteed loan thresholds, broadened federal contracting access, established the State Trade and Export grant initiative, allocated $50 million to Small Business Development Centers, and strengthened agency oversight mechanisms.
Under her leadership, the SBA introduced the Impact Fund pilot within its Small Business Investment Company program to back funds pursuing both financial returns and social impact, alongside launching its inaugural regional clusters initiative. In January 2012, the position of SBA Administrator was elevated to Cabinet rank, enhancing Mills’ influence on policy decisions.
Mills declared her resignation in February 2013 and departed in September of that year. Her tenure received commendations for easing regulatory challenges and reinforcing key lending programs. Throughout her administration, the SBA facilitated over $106 billion in loans to upwards of 193,000 small businesses, achieving record levels for both SBA-backed loans and Small Business Investment Company funding. Moreover, from fiscal years 2011 through 2013, small businesses were awarded $286.3 billion in federal contracts—an increase of $32 billion compared to the preceding three-year period.
Post-SBA work
Following her departure from the SBA, Mills took on a Senior Fellowship at Harvard Business School and had previously held a fellowship at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School. In July 2014, she published The State of Small Business Lending: Credit Access During the Recovery and How Technology May Change the Game, which explored the credit crunch after the 2008–2009 recession and examined the rise of online lenders catering to small enterprises. In November 2016, she co-authored The State of Small Business Lending: Innovation and Technology and Implications for Regulation. At HBS, Mills conducted research linking entrepreneurship with middle-class opportunities and contributed chapters to the 2015 U.S. Competitiveness reports The Challenge of Shared Prosperity and Growth and Shared Prosperity, addressing trends such as declining startup rates, income disparity, and policy recommendations aimed at enhancing entrepreneurship through improved capital access, skills development, and ecosystem support.
Her book Fintech, Small Business & the American Dream (2018) analyzed small business financing needs alongside technology-driven changes in lending following the 2008 recession. The second edition released in 2024 discusses COVID-19’s economic effects on small businesses as well as advancements in AI-powered financial products. Mills also contributed to the 2021 publication Big Data in Small Business: Data-Driven Growth in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and co-authored a 2022 chapter titled "The Servicification of the U.S. Economy" in The Role of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Economic Growth.
She serves as vice chair on the board of directors for the National Bureau of Economic Research and participated on the Milstein Commission on Entrepreneurship and Middle Class Jobs at the University of Virginia's Miller Center. This commission produced the 2015 report Can Startups Save the American Dream?, which recommended practical steps to reinforce America’s startup ecosystem for middle-class advancement. Mills formerly chaired the advisory committee for the Private Capital Research Institute, co-led the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Main Street Finance Task Force, and was a member of the Milken Institute’s Fintech Advisory Committee.
In 2013, Mills resumed her role as president of MMP Group, Inc., focusing investments on consumer goods, food products, textiles, and industrial components. She is a board member at Skillsoft and served as vice chairman for immigration services company Envoy Global. Additionally, she was on the board of Maine Technology Institute supporting regional technology firms. As a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Mills has held leadership positions within Harvard’s governance structures including vice chairman of its Board of Overseers and membership in the Harvard Corporation, Harvard University’s primary fiduciary body. A recipient of the U.S. Navy’s Distinguished Public Service Award, she frequently contributes articles to Fortune (magazine) concerning economic issues, small business matters, and entrepreneurship trends.
Books
- Fintech, Small Business & the American Dream (Second Edition) (Boston, MA: Palgrave Macmillan, 2024).
- In the volume The Role of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Economic Growth, edited by Michael J. Andrews and others, the chapter titled The Servicification of the U.S. Economy: The Role of Startups versus Incumbent Firms is authored by Mercedes Delgado, J. Daniel Kim, and Karen G. Mills (University of Chicago Press, 2022).
- Contributor to Big Data in Small Business: Data-Driven Growth in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2021).
- Fintech, Small Business & the American Dream (Boston, MA: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018).
Papers
- The Supply Chain Economy: New Policies to Drive Innovation and Jobs, co-authored by Mercedes Delgado and Karen G. Mills (December 2021).
- Creating Smart Policy to Promote Entrepreneurship and Innovation, by Karen G. Mills and Annie Dang (May 2020).
- A New Categorization of the U.S. Economy: The Role of Supply Chain Industries in Innovation and Economic Performance, authored by Mercedes Delgado and Karen G. Mills (October 2017).
- The State of Small Business Lending: Innovation and Technology and Implications for Regulation, by Karen G. Mills and Brayden McCarthy (November 2017).
- Growth & Shared Prosperity, written by Karen G. Mills with contributions from Joseph B. Fuller and Jan W. Rivkin (September 2015).
- The Challenge of Shared Prosperity, authored by Jan W. Rivkin, Karen G. Mills, and Michael E. Porter with input from Michael I. Norton and Mitchell B. Weiss (September 2015).
- The State of Small Business Lending: Credit Access During the Recovery and How Technology May Change the Game, co-written by Karen G. Mills and Brayden McCarthy (July 2014).
- Clusters and Competitiveness: A New Federal Role for Stimulating Economies, by Karen G. Mills, Andrew Reamer, and Elisabeth B. Reynolds (April 2008).
Personal life
She is married to Barry Mills, who served as president of Bowdoin College from 2001 to 2015, and together they have three sons.