Just one year after being tapped as one of the highest-ranking Black women in President Biden’s administration, Natalie Madeira Cofield has announced she is leaving her post as assistant administrator for the Office of Women’s Business Ownership, a division within the Small Business Administration (SBA).
The former political appointee made the announcement around the same time Americans celebrated Women’s Equality Day, a monumental commemoration of the 1920 adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment, which guarantees American women’s right to vote. Her new role will be working to support female entrepreneurs towards professional success.
“My appointment came at a pivotal time for our office,” she told Forbes shortly after her appointment last year. “Right now, we’re spearheading the onboarding and funding of the largest expansion of Women’s Business Centers in SBA history. We’re distributing and managing a $70 million funding portfolio that includes funds to run the centers and provide additional resources during the pandemic.”
Madeira Cofield was one of the contributing factors in SBA’s $100 Million Community Navigator Pilot Program, which offers access to funding for underrepresented groups. Through financial assistance and industry-specific training, the program connects members of the entrepreneurial community and gives them the tools to overcome economic setbacks. President Biden endorsed the program last March.
Additionally, Madeira Cofield is known in playing a significant part in expanding SBA’s footprint, a signal of Biden’s commitment to improve diversity, inclusion and equity. “It was critical for us to work with the administration to change the policies,” said Ron Busby, chief executive officer of the US Black Chambers Inc. “Natalie was very involved in that.”
In addition to stepping down, she was recently admitted to study Education at the University of Pennsylvania, where she is working towards a Ph.D. “My career has been colored by my passion and my commitment to advocacy and service, as well as my experience as a national champion for women entrepreneurs…women are increasingly turning to entrepreneurship because it gives them more work-life flexibility, it reduces the strain of being both primary caregivers and employees, and because women are just good at innovating and pivoting, no matter what challenges they may face.”
