Jorge Silva-Puras was sworn in as the United States Small Business Administration (SBA) Region II Administrator on May 3, 2010. He oversees SBA’s programs and services in the Region II office, which is headquartered in New York City, and includes SBA offices in New York City, Albany, Buffalo, Hauppauge, Elmira, Rochester and Syracuse, N.Y.; Newark, N.J.; San Juan, P.R.; and St. Croix, V.I.
There are approximately 2.7 million small businesses located in Region II. As part of SBA’s recovery efforts, Region II has approved over 6,250 SBA backed loans, supporting over $2.2 billion in lending to Region II small businesses from February 2009, when President Barack Obama signed the Recovery Act, until July 23, 2010.
Before joining the SBA, Mr. Silva-Puras, who has ample management, legal, marketing, financial and government experience, presided Interaktiva, LLC, a management consulting firm in San Juan. Between 2005 and 2008, he served as Chief of Staff to the Governor of Puerto Rico; Executive Director of the Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company; President of the Economic Development Bank for Puerto Rico; and as Puerto Rico’s Secretary of Economic Development & Commerce.
Previous to his government roles, Silva-Puras worked for The Procter & Gamble Company at its corporate headquarters in Cincinnati, and at its San Juan office, where he managed marketing efforts for the US Hispanic and Caribbean regions. He also worked at Citigroup, managing the Citicards Puerto Rico business, and practiced law for three years at one of the principal law firms in San Juan.
During his tenure as Secretary of Economic Development, Mr. Silva-Puras served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the: Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company, Puerto Rico Tourism Company, Puerto Rico Commerce and Trade Company, Puerto Rico Science and Technology Trust, among several other boards. He also served as member of the Board of Directors of the Government Development Bank and the Economic Development Bank for Puerto Rico.
He received his BA degree from Yale University, J.D. from the University of Puerto Rico and MBA in International Management from the University of Texas at Austin and the Copenhagen Business School in Denmark. He is married and has four children.