SBA Administrator Linda McMahon Appoints Joseph Shepard as Head of Investment and Innovation

WASHINGTON, March 22, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Administrator Linda McMahon of the U.S. Small Business Administration announced today that Joseph Shepard will serve as the Associate Administrator for the Office of Investment and Innovation.

"It is my pleasure to welcome Joe to the SBA," McMahon said. "His previous public sector experience at SBA overseeing the SBIC program, as well as his private sector experience as a subordinated debt lender and private equity investor in small businesses, is the perfect fit required for this critical lending, investment and oversight position."

As office head, Shepard will be responsible for Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) assessment and licensing; oversight and monitoring of existing SBICs, including examinations for regulatory compliance; divestment of portfolio companies within failed SBICs, and the timely recovery of taxpayer guaranteed capital; investment policies; new regulations; and strategic direction.

"I am honored to have the opportunity to be at the SBA and work with a group of highly knowledgeable and experienced professionals," Shepard said. "As a team, we will strive to be good stewards of the taxpayer dollars."

Prior to his SBA appointment, Shepard was a Partner and Managing Director of Archway Capital Management, and was previously a Director of Banc One Capital Markets, the investment banking and private equity group of Bank One Corporation, now JP Morgan Chase, which managed seven bank-owned SBICs. In both positions, he was responsible for originating, evaluating, and processing direct mezzanine and equity investments, as well as providing merger, acquisition, advisory, and investment banking services. He had similar responsibilities and experience with Principal Financial Securities, and Texas Pacific Capital. He began his professional career as a management consultant with KPMG.

Shepard holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Harding University and earned a Master of Business Administration from Southern Methodist University.

About the Small Business Administration's Office of Investment
The Office of Investment was established under the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 at a time when no private equity industry existed in the United States. Almost 60 years later, the Office manages the current Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) program, which operates as a fund of funds by providing U.S. taxpayer guaranteed long-term loans to SBA-licensed SBICs. The SBICs use these taxpayer guarantees and privately raised funds to independently provide capital, primarily in the form of subordinated debt with equity enhancements, to qualifying small businesses. As of March 20, 2017, the SBIC program had a portfolio of 317 active SBICs with total outstanding and committed U.S. taxpayer guaranteed capital of approximately $14.6 billion, as well as a portfolio of 105 failed SBICs with associated taxpayer capital and assets of approximately $800 million.
To learn more, visit; www.sba.gov/sbic.

About the Small Business Administration's Office of Innovation and Technology
The Office's SBIR program was established under the Small Business Innovation Development Act of 1982 with the mission of enabling small businesses "to undertake and to obtain the benefits of research and development in order to maintain and strengthen the competitive free enterprise system and the national economy." The STTR program, modeled after the SBIR program, was established as a pilot program by the Small Business Technology Transfer Act of 1992 to provide grants to small businesses working in cooperation with non-profit research institutions in order to facilitate transfer of technology from these institutions to commercial use. To learn more, visit: www.sbir.gov.

About the Small Business Administration
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) was created in 1953 and since January 13, 2012 has served as a Cabinet-level agency of the federal government to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns, to preserve free competitive enterprise and to maintain and strengthen the overall economy of our nation.  The SBA helps Americans start, build and grow businesses.  Through an extensive network of field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations, the SBA delivers its services to people throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam. To learn more, visit: www.sba.gov.

Contact: Terry Sutherland, 202-205-6919 
Internet Address: www.sba.gov/news
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Release Number: 17-14

SOURCE U.S. Small Business Administration

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