SBA Alaska District Office Appoints New District Director
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Alaska District Office announced Steve Brown as its new District Director.
As the leader of the SBA Alaska District, Brown oversees the delivery of all SBA programs and services in Alaska including technical training and assistance, funding programs, and small business certifications connected to government contracting.
“It’s not often you have an opportunity to jump tracks to start something exciting and new halfway through your life. To work for an agency in the federal government that benefits small business is a passion of mine since I’ve owned different small businesses in my life. Plus, it’s appealing to work for a government agency where you get to see results,” Brown said. “We have a good foundation with the staff here. Our goal is to take this office and its services to the next level. We want to become top-of-mind for the business owners and entrepreneurs of Alaska instead of being the government’s best kept secret. We want the SBA to be the first stop when starting, growing or expanding a business.”
Prior to assuming the role of district director in August, Brown served as the Chairman of the Bannock County Commission in Idaho for two years where he oversaw all county, support city, and municipality government services for 88,000 citizens with a staff of 450 employees.
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April 2021
During those two years, he restructured the budgeting process, restored employee trust and morale, and increased transparency and trust with the voting public. Brown also converted departments that were draining budgets into revenue generating departments.
From 2010 to 2017, Brown served on the Pocatello City Council—an elected position—and was council president for the last two years. During this time, Brown says he learned how to focus on collaboration, especially when it came to restructuring budgets and evaluating the financial impact on citizens. He implemented new approaches to spending that were more efficient, cost-effective, and long-term versus year-to-year spending decisions that are shorter in scope.
“Steve’s experience in both the public and private sectors makes him an ideal leader to carry out the SBA mission to help entrepreneurs start, grow, expand and recover in Alaska,” SBA Pacific Northwest Regional Administrator Jeremy Field said. “He knows first-hand the challenges of entrepreneurship along with the ins and outs of economic development. I expect him to hit the ground running and continue to deliver much-needed SBA programming in the Last Frontier.”
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The Corporate 100
April 2021
Alaska Business has been celebrating the corporations that have a significant impact on Alaska’s economy since 1993. At the time, the corporations weren’t ranked as the list didn’t have specific ranking criteria. Instead, the Alaska Business editorial team held long, detailed, and occasionally passionate discussions about which organizations around the state were providing jobs, owned or leased property, used local vendors, demonstrated a high level of community engagement, and in general enriched Alaska.