Paula Gunson & Jayne Armstrong
SBA District Director Says
Goodbye to Delaware
It is with a very heavy heart that I say goodbye. As many of you know by now, I have accepted the SBA district director position in the Virginia District Office and will relocate to Richmond in mid-March. Obviously, this is a very exciting opportunity for me both professionally and personally. Virginia has a very large and diverse small business market, ranging from the Tidewater area to Richmond and Blacksburg and Charlottesville to Winchester. I had the opportunity to work with many economic development organizations and business owners in Virginia during my previous work on the White House Conference on Small Business. I am very excited to work closely with the state’s economic development infrastructure again, including almost 650,000 small businesses, 33 Small Business Development Centers, nine SCORE chapters and one Women’s Business Center. I have my work cut out for me!
Although this is a great career and quality of life opportunity for me, I will truly miss working with all of you. I am very proud of SBA’s efforts to create a greater awareness of small business needs while building a stronger environment for small business start-ups and expansions. I ESPECIALLY will miss our great SBA team that demonstrates its commitment to small business every day. Delawareis extremely lucky to have such a dedicated results-oriented team at the SBA Delaware District Office. I wish I could clone them and take them toVirginiawith me!
I also have enjoyed working closely with Delaware’s small business community, small business lenders and SBA’s economic development and resource partners (including the SBTDC, SCORE and the YWCA Delaware Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship) to expand business opportunities. Small business is big business inDelaware and working together all of us have contributed to the state’s economic future. Thank you for your ongoing support of the SBA, especially when we were a staff of only three and I wore more hats than I can remember.
I also have been very fortunate to have such a close working relationship with our Congressional delegation. As the director of a federal economic development agency, I couldn’t ask for a better delegation to work with to support small business interests. And their staffs are second to none.
All of us know that small businesses are significant job creators and the heart of the state’s economy. I am honored to have servedDelaware’s small business community for the past 12 years. Thank you for supporting SBA’s efforts over the years. When you are inVirginia, please stop by and see me!
On a much lighter note, as a former student body president of West Virginia University I have been known to be a slightly obnoxious Mountaineer fan on occasion (not in denial). Living in Richmondwill add about 30 more miles to my fall weekend commutes toMorgantown,W.Va., so I will be able to retain my season tickets for WVU football. I also will be closer to an airport for those Big 12 road trips toTexas and Oklahoma this fall. So life is good. Yes, this was a factor in selecting Richmond as well!
Although my email address will stay the same, my new address (after March 12) is:
SBA Virginia District Office
The Federal Building
400 N. 8th Street, Suite 1150
Richmond, VA 23219
