In a bipartisan 81-19 vote, the Senate confirmed Linda McMahon as the new administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).
McMahon is a former wrestling entertainment executive who co-founded World Wrestling Entertainment and as CEO oversaw its growth from a handful of employees to more than 800. She left the organization in 2009 to run campaigns for Senate in 2010 and 2012. She lost both races. By 2015, WWE had revenues of $659 million.
In testimony on January 24 before the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, McMahon discussed her hands-on experience managing and helping to grow small businesses.
“As an entrepreneur myself, I have shared the experiences of our nation’s small business owners,” she said. “My husband and I built our business from scratch. We started out sharing a desk. Over decades of hard work and strategic growth, we built it into a publicly traded global enterprise with more than 800 employees. I am proud of our success – I know every bit of the hard work it took to create that success.”
As the SBA administrator, McMahon will be a member of President Trump’s cabinet. She will oversee an agency that has delivered millions of loans, loan guarantees, contracts, counseling sessions and other forms of assistance to small businesses.