[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 131 (Wednesday, September 16, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S9428]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION NOMINATIONS

  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, today the Senate Committee on Small 
Business and Entrepreneurship favorably reported out the President's 
nominations of Dr. Winslow Lorenzo Sargeant to serve as chief counsel 
for advocacy and Ms. Peggy Elizabeth Gustafson to serve as inspector 
general of the Small Business Administration.
  I am pleased that President Obama nominated such talented individuals 
to top positions at the SBA. Their confirmation will make the SBA much 
closer to having an exceptional leadership team in place.
  As chief counsel for advocacy, Dr. Winslow Sargeant will bring a 
unique background to this very important position. With a Ph.D. from 
the University of Wisconsin-Madison in electrical engineering and a 
background as a very successful small business owner, he is not only 
well-educated, but well-educated about the challenges facing small 
businesses today.
  He is currently the managing director of Venture Investors, a Midwest 
venture capital company with a concentration on starting up health care 
and technology companies. From 2001 to 2005, he served as a program 
manager for SBIR in electronics at the National Science Foundation. He 
has also worked at IBM as a staff engineer, at AT&T as technical staff, 
and as an associate adjunct professor at the University of 
Pennsylvania.
  As the current general counsel for Senator Claire McCaskill, whose 
interest in and knowledge of oversight issues is well known and 
respected in the Senate, Ms. Peggy Gustafson is an excellent nominee 
for inspector general of the SBA. She received her J.D. at Northwestern 
University and, before working as general counsel for Senator McCaskill 
here in Washington, Ms. Gustafson worked for her when the Senator was 
the prosecutor for Jackson County, MO, as well as when she was the 
Missouri State Auditor.
  With capable leaders like Dr. Sargeant and Ms. Gustafson at the helm, 
we are hopeful the agency will be more ready than ever to play an 
important role in assisting small businesses as they continue to lead 
this country to an economic recovery. We look forward to working with 
them and to a new era for the SBA and American small businesses.

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