Summers in Providence to learn about territory
Charles Summers Jr. plans to put a lot of miles on his 1996 Lincoln over the next few months.
Summers, 45, was sworn in as the U.S. Small Business Administration’s regional administrator of Region I, which includes Rhode Island, on March 7. In his new role, he’ll also oversee programs and services in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Maine and Vermont.
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“I plan to make certain people are aware of the SBA and its services – beyond the loan programs,” Summers said. “I see my role as regional administrator to be very visible and to listen to small-business concerns.”
To do that, Summers said he plans to meet with small-business owners all around the region. The day after he was sworn in, Summers traveled to Providence to meet with SBA staff. Then the group went to Broad Street to talk to business owners there.
“It’s important to get out and find out who your people are,” Summers said.
While Summers is new to the SBA, he’s no stranger to small business. He was raised in his family’s hotel business and later moved on to manage hotels and motels in Bangor and South Portland, Maine. In addition, he served as the manager of state operations for Sen. Olympia Snowe, chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
Working for Snowe, Summers developed outreach programs and hosted small-business roundtable discussions around the state, a forum he hopes to institute around New England in his new role.
“I was helping her reach out to small businesses,” Summers said. The issues he discussed with Mainers, he said, translate to the concerns small-business owners around the region have – health care, taxes and regulation.
“This whole area is rich in culture,” Summers said. “To strengthen that, we need a good, vibrant small-business community. And that’s what we intend to – we will move heaven and earth to help small businesses.”
The father of two also served two terms in the Maine Senate, where he was on the Joint Standing Committees on Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Legal Affairs and Taxation. He also serves as the public affairs officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve.
He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign. Summers will be headquartered in Boston. He lives in Scarborough, Maine, and is the fourth person from that state to serve as the SBA’s regional administrator.
