Quotes from Karen Mills

This is not a zero-sum game. We know that if we provide access and education, particularly where there are gaps in the market, we will create more jobs, we will create more growth, and we will create more activity in the U.S. market, which will be good for our economy.

Small businesses pay 18 percent more than big businesses for health care, the same health care, just because they're small and they have too small a pool of risk.

Health care is the No. 1 concern of small businesses and the status quo is untenable.

We see tremendous excitement from small-business people about the administration and about the attention and commitment that the president has to do things that really make a difference. I think they recognize that health care is one of those. I think they recognize that what we've been doing in the Recovery Act with our loan programs has mattered.

This is not a zero-sum game. We know that if we provide access and education, particularly where there are gaps in the market, we will create more jobs, we will create more growth, and we will create more activity in the U.S. market, which will be good for our economy.

We've gotten tremendous support. Everybody now understands how critical it is to help small businesses get out of this recession and into recovery.

President Obama vowed in his State of the Union address to make assisting domestic manufacturers a top priority for his second term.

The morale when I came in was not the best. It was because the agency had not been valued.

Our economy creates and loses jobs every quarter in the millions. But of the net new jobs, the jobs come from small businesses: both small businesses on Main Street and many of the net new jobs come from high growth, high impact businesses that are located all across the country.

I haven't checked this out yet, but one of our guys told me we have a counselor within 45 minutes to an hour of most small businesses in this country. That's really powerful. I call it our bone structure.

We are very much engaged across the government, very much engaged in streamlining and simplifying our activities with borrowers and lenders, because that saves time and saves costs and we believe we can do that while maintaining the same or increased levels of oversight and risk management.

Small businesses, you can give them capital, but what they often need as much is mentoring, advice and help with their business plan.

Small businesses are really the engine in the economy.

We don't want to give a business that is not going to come through the troubled waters a loan that they can't pay back.

In October 2008, when the credit crunch hit, small businesses were really crushed by the lack of capital.

I think we've learned that the S.B.A. plays a critical role in providing access and opportunity when the market is not providing that access. We help banks get that money out into the hands of important and viable businesses, particularly those owned by minorities, women, immigrants and veterans.