Hector Barreto, the head of the Small Business Administration who helped expand credit union access to the SBA's guaranteed loan program, resigned his position last week to take a job as head of the Latino Coalition, an advocacy group based in Washington.
Barreto, who spoke on numerous occasions to credit unions in an effort to make more small business loans available, opened the door to more SBA lending among credit unions when he approved the eligibility of non-community charters to join the agency's 7a guarantee program. Since then the number of credit unions participating in the program has expanded more than five-fold to around 250.
Barreto gained some notoriety within the Bush Administration when he criticized his own agency's handling of loans to aid recovery after Sept. 11 and Hurricane Katrina.
Steven Preston, an executive with ServiceMaster, was nominated by the President to take Barretto's place. His nomination must be confirmed by the Senate.
The Journal's Ed Roberts can be contacted at eroberts
