SBA Administrator Linda McMahon announced the appointment of new members to her executive team: Christopher Pilkerton as General Counsel and Patricia Gibson as the Associate Administrator for the Office of Communications and Public Liaison.
"I am extremely delighted to welcome two new additions to my executive team here at SBA," McMahon said. "Chris and Pat both bring tremendous expertise and knowledge needed to efficiently and effectively further execute the Agency's mission of small business growth and job creation."
Christopher Pilkerton, General Counsel, Office of General
Counsel As General Counsel, Christopher Pilkerton provides legal representation for the Agency in judicial and administrative proceedings, legal negotiations, and appearances and consultations with other government and non-governmental entities.
Prior to SBA, Pilkerton was a compliance director at JP Morgan Chase, advising both the business and corporate functions on matters related to enterprise compliance risk and regulatory change management. Pilkerton began his legal career as an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan, working as a trial lawyer in both the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor and the Office of Money Laundering and Tax Crimes. He later went on to become Senior Counsel at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, investigating numerous cases related to insider trading and accounting fraud. Pilkerton has since been a partner in two law firms, representing clients in various transactions and regulatory matters, as well as providing general counsel services to early stage companies and clients in the financial services industry. He has served on the Board of Directors of NASDAQ Futures, Inc. and was the Associate Director of the Law and Public Policy Program at the Catholic University of AmericaColumbus School of Law. Pilkerton was a Fulbright Teaching Scholar in Poland and holds a master's degree in public administration from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. He earned his J.D. from the Catholic University of America and a bachelor's degree from Fairfield University.
Patricia Gibson, Associate Administrator, Office of Communications and Public Liaison
As Associate Administrator for SBA's Office of Communications & Public Liaison, Patricia Gibson will be responsible for developing and executing the SBA's communications strategy, including a new marketing plan to improve how the agency communicates to its key stakeholders.
Gibson has been a nonprofit senior executive, an entrepreneur and strategic communications consultant who founded and operated two companies. Prior to joining SBA, she served as an interim Chief Operating Officer for a nonprofit organization, realigning messaging, outreach and strategy. As Chief Communications Officer for DIA (the Drug Information Association), she led the introduction of a new branding and communications strategy, and reorganized operations supporting marketing, membership and publications. Gibson was a partner and co-founder of Healthcare Integrity Group, an early stage venture, where she led a team of healthcare industry and IT experts in designing a commercially viable product enabling a patient engagement process standard across medical and non-medical disciplines, leveraging innovative healthcare IT. She spent 23 years growing and evolving PMG Communications, a strategic communications agency, into a million dollar business with clients spanning Fortune 500 companies, nonprofit associations and state and federal government. Gibson has served on the global Board of Directors for the Healthcare Businesswomen's Association (HBA) and was the founding President of Women for Economic & Leadership Development (WELD), a multistate nonprofit focused on leadership development for women. Gibson received her B.S. degree in Communications and Business from Indiana University in Bloomington, IN.
About the Small Business Administration
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) was created in 1953 and since January 13, 2012 has served as a Cabinet-level agency of the federal government to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns, to preserve free competitive enterprise and to maintain and strengthen the overall economy of our nation. The SBA helps Americans start, build and grow businesses. Through an extensive network of field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations, the SBA delivers its services to people throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam. To learn more about SBA, visit http://www.sba.gov.
