Structure

FIFTEEN Council Members serve three-year terms:

NWBC was established 35 years ago with the passage of U.S. House of Representatives (H.R.) 5050, the Women’s Business Ownership Act. This historic piece of legislation created NWBC to connect the voices of diverse women entrepreneurs across the U.S. to policymakers in Washington, D.C. It ensured more of them would have fair and equitable access to entrepreneurial resources. NWBC, an independent federal advisory committee housed within the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), comprises 15 all-volunteer prominent women business owners and leaders of national women’s business organizations. The Council’s core mission is to advise and counsel the President, Congress, and the SBA Administrator on issues of importance to women business owners.

The work of this Council is more essential than ever:

• During the 2008 financial crisis, the Council held town halls across the country to hear directly from women business owners about what they were experiencing and what policy recommendations could support the nation’s economic recovery.
• Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath, the Council spoke up for women business owners. Whether it was calling out the need for women to be prioritized during the rollout of the Paycheck Protection Program and the CARES Act, keeping women’s roles as caregivers in the spotlight, or highlighting the need for reliable, affordable, and accessible childcare, we leaned in.
• The Council continues to lean in, raising its voice on fixing contracting, supporting childcare, ensuring women can take part in the country’s transitioning economy, and other issues of today. NWBC also listens directly to women business owners to address the issues of tomorrow.
• The Council represents the voice of women business owners for SBA, Congress, and the White House by providing advice and policy recommendations. NWBC is the only federal advisory committee dedicated solely to this purpose.
• The Council acknowledges the diligent advocacy of women’s business organizations like the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO, which lobbied for the passage of H.R. 5050 in 1988), Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP), the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), and the Association of Women’s Business Centers (AWBC). These and similar organizations are strong allies and collaborators in the push for positive change to support women’s entrepreneurship.
• Walker’s Legacy, GET Cities, Native Women Lead, the Center for Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership, AWBC, and WBENC have representatives from their organizations serving as Council Members.
• The Council utilizes its unique ability to convene private sector leaders, researchers, entrepreneurial ecosystem builders, and other government offices to serve as an advocacy epicenter for women business owners.
• The Council uplifts legislation to support women business owners regardless of whether it comes from a Democrat in Maryland or a Republican in Iowa. NWBC has applauded the successes and pushed for better from both Democrat and Republican administrations and congresses, and will continue to provide advice and policy recommendations to the SBA, Congress, and the White House regardless of who is in office or which party is in power.
• The Council provides a level of continuity, independence, and bipartisanship in advancing women’s business enterprise that can only be provided by NWBC. Women deserve an organization like NWBC that can reach across the aisle and fight on their behalf.
• The Council draws upon its physical location, housed in SBA, to witness firsthand where change is happening. Looking over at the Hill and the White House, NWBC can request meetings and attend hearings to uplift learnings for women business owners. For example, being housed in SBA, NWBC can connect with federal contracting through the eyes of our Council Members who pursue it, reach out to the offices that oversee it, learn from meetings with legislators, and solicit contracts directly. These benefits go in all directions.
• In summary, as an independent, bipartisan federal advisory council, NWBC monitors and analyzes key policy trends and recommendations from national women’s business organizations, proposed bipartisan legislation from Congress, and rules and programmatic changes from the Administration. These learnings are developed into proactive policy recommendations to provide leadership in women’s business. NWBC is the only organization specifically designed to connect women business owners and the organizations that support them directly to federal government officials and policymakers in our nation’s capital. Beyond its important legacy, NWBC’s work remains as relevant as ever in a post-pandemic environment that can sometimes seem, at best, challenging to America’s over 13 million women business owners.

NWBC Council Members, left to right: Brandy R. Butler, Karen Clark Cole, Katica Roy, Jaime Gloshay, Executive Director Tené Dolphin, Council Chair Sima Ladjevardian, Jenny Poon, Leslie Lynn Smith, Samantha Abrams, Selena Rodgers Dickerson, and Pamela Prince-Eason.