The U.S. Small Business Administration has named Kathleen McShane as Assistant Administrator of its Office of Women’s Business Ownership. SBA Administrator Linda McMahon announced the appointment on January 16, 2018.
In her new role, McShane will lead the agency’s work to help women-owned businesses grow. McMahon said she was pleased to welcome her to the SBA’s leadership team.
The office runs a nationwide network of Women’s Business Centers. These centers offer training, counseling and mentoring to hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs in every state and in two U.S. territories. To oversee them, the office works with representatives in each SBA district office, which also helps coordinate services for women entrepreneurs.
McShane comes to the SBA after a long career in business. In 2006 she created Ladies Launch Club, a company that helps women start or expand businesses.
Before that, she ran a marketing firm worth several million dollars. Its clients included HBO, MasterCard, Venastat, Bank of New Canaan, Citibank and JP Morgan Chase.
She also spent 17 years in the corporate world. Most of that time went to credit card products for small business customers.
Her other roles have included adjunct professor at New York University and founding director of the Bank of New Canaan. She has also served on the Norwalk Hospital Foundation Board.
McShane holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Boston University. Later, she attended the Executive Program in Management at Columbia Business School.