Isabel Guzman, director of California's Office of the Small Business Advocate, has been nominated by President-elect Joe Biden to serve as head of the Small Business Administration.
The Biden transition team also announced the nominations of Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo and Boston Mayor Martin Walsh to lead the departments of Commerce and Labor, respectively.
Guzman previously served as senior adviser and deputy chief of staff at the SBA and is the co-founder of consulting firm GovContractPros.
Raimondo served as Rhode Island's general treasurer before she was sworn in as the state's 75th and first woman governor in 2015.
Biden picked Don Graves, a former executive vice president at retail banking company KeyBank, to serve as deputy secretary of commerce.
Graves previously held a deputy assistant and counselor role at the White House under the Obama administration and served as deputy assistant secretary for small business, community development and housing policy at the Department of the Treasury. He held an executive director role at the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness from 2011 to 2017.
Walsh, who serves as Boston’s 54th mayor and chairman of the 470-member Climate Mayors association, is the founding vice-chair of the Cities of Opportunity Task Force within the U.S. Conference of Mayors. He also spearheaded the Building and Construction Trades Council in Boston from 2011 to 2013.
