President-elect Donald Trump has tapped former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler to lead the Small Business Administration.
Loeffler, 53, is the current co-chair of Trump’s second inaugural committee. She is also the former CEO of Bakkt, a commodity and cryptocurrency trading platform that Trump’s Truth Social media company has been in talks to purchase. And she is married to billionaire Jeffrey Sprecher, a Trump donor and CEO of Intercontinental Exchange.
“Kelly will bring her experience in business and Washington to reduce red tape, and unleash opportunity for our Small Businesses to grow, innovate, and thrive,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday. “She will focus on ensuring that SBA is accountable to Taxpayers by cracking down on waste, fraud, and regulatory overreach.”
The Georgia Republican lost her bid for a full term in a January 2021 runoff of a 2020 special election against Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.). Loeffler was one of Trump’s most vocal allies while in the Senate and vowed to supporters that she would challenge the 2020 Electoral College results until the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol.
In 2017, Trump picked Linda McMahon to lead the Small Business Administration during his first term; she stepped down in 2019 to help with his reelection campaign. McMahon, who kept a relatively low profile at SBA and was seen as a loyal foot soldier inside the White House, is Trump’s pick to serve as secretary of Education in his second term.
