SBA names Herbert Austin as acting regional administrator

The U.S. Small Business Administration has promoted Herbert Austin, the Dallas/Fort Worth district director, to acting regional administrator for the SBA’s south central region, which serves 3.3 million small businesses in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. Also, Austin will continue to serve as the Dallas/Fort Worth district director, a position he’s served in since 2008.

As acting regional administrator, Austin will lead 10 district offices, offering financial, entrepreneurial development, government contracting and international export services. He will also oversee small business counselors that are assigned to Small Business Development Centers, SCORE Offices, Women’s Business Centers and Veteran Business Outreach Centers throughout the south central region.

Austin, a Haiti native, started working for the SBA in 1989 when he was hired in New Jersey to improve assistance to export businesses. He’s served as manager of the Business Information Center in Jamaica, Queens; trade finance manager at the U.S. Export Assistance Center in New York; and as branch manager of SBA Long Island, New York. In 2003, he was named deputy director of the New York District, and in 2007, he was became acting director. He was in that position until he joined the south central region’s largest producing district in Dallas/Fort Worth. In the first quarter of fiscal 2017, this SBA region approved 1,576 loans for $874 million, which was a 7% increase from the same quarter in 2016. The number of loans to small business rose 155%, and the amount of money loaned increased 234% from the same period a year ago.

Before he joined SBA, Austin worked as director of exporting for companies in the United States and overseas. He earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing from New York University and a Master of Business Administration from Pace University.