President Obama has appointed Karen Gordon Mills to take the top spot at the Small Business Administration (SBA). I had never heard of Karen Mills and I think that I’m going to be hearing quite a bit more about her so, I did some research. I’m genuinely interested in ‘where’ people come from because I believe you can tell a lot about a person by looking at their history. I did a little digging. Here’s what I found.
Karen Dale Gordon was born in 1950 to Ellen R. and Melvin J. Gordon. She is married to Barry Gordon (an attorney), who graduated in ‘72 from Bowdoin College in Biochemistry and Government, got his PhD in biology from Syracuse University (“Cuse – Go Orange”), and got his JD from Columbia Law School in ‘79. He is currently the president of Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. They have 3 sons, William, Henry and George. Karen did her undergraduate work at Harvard in Economics in 1975 and got her MBA from Harvard Business School in 1977.
Karen’s father Melvin J. Gordon (88) has been the Chairman of the Board of Tootsie Roll Industries Inc. since 1962 and serves as its Chief Executive officer. Mr. Gordon serves as the President of HDI Investment Corp., a (Gordon) family investment company. He has been a Director of Tootsie Roll Industries Inc. since 1952. He serves as a Director of HDI Investment Corp.
Karen’s mother Ellen R. Gordon (76) has been President of Tootsie Roll Industries Inc. since 1978 and serves as Chief Operating Officer. Her father William Rubin originally bought the company from its founder, Austrian immigrant Leo Hirschfeld, in 1935. Mrs. Gordon is also a Vice President and Director of HDI Investment Corp. Prior to her election as President, Mrs. Gordon served as Senior Vice President of Tootsie Roll. Mrs. Gordon has been a director of Tootsie Roll Industries Inc. since 1969 and is a Member of the Executive Committee. Mrs. Gordon has been a Director of Unilever – Bestfoods since 1991.
Tootsie Roll Industries is a top 1000 company and has been very good to the Gordons. Mr. & Mrs., have a reported and combined annual income + options of more than 8.4MM.
So, Karen comes from money (or candy), a lot of it. Is it any surprise then that she went into the Venture Capital industry? She has served as President of MMP Group, a private equity investor and advisor since 1993. From 1999 to 2007 she was a founding partner and a managing director of Solera Capital, a late-stage, ‘controlling interest’ VC firm with $250MM+ under management. “Our operating philosophy is to invest about $15-20 million in each deal and take a controlling interest,” noted Mills.” We like to be the capital that comes in to grow the business to the next level – build the next plant, make an acquisition, or expand the brand.” (…and then flip it and get our multiple.)
The media is reporting that Karen has taken a leadership role in the growth of more than 20 companies in the consumer products, food, distribution, textile and industrial component sectors since the mid 1980s. That’s less than 1 (one) deal per year. Not exactly aggressive lending by any stretch of the imagination. We’ll see how (if) that translates to her role with the SBA.
I am very hopeful that Karen can step up and reform a government agency that is in desperate need of leadership. That she can see her way clear to developing conscientious funding policy, developing flexible and easy to access funding for the majority of small businesses, not the sweetheart deals that she is used to working with in her current life.
At this point, the jury is still out on Karen Mills!
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Dear Mrs Gordon,
I find myself in a dire situation writing this letter and requesting any assistance you can provide to save my company from certain financial ruin in the face of a receding economy. I know you must have an extremely busy schedule, and I appreciate your willingness to consider the circumstances in which BRU Aerospace is now involved; I will keep this as short and to-the-point as possible.
During my thirteen years of active duty service in the United States Air Force as a Jet Engine Mechanic, (Supporting Fighters, Bombers and Tankers) I was injured and eventually honorably discharged as a Service Disabled Veteran. After my military career ended, I worked at many different jobs and slowly realized the difficulties of assimilating back into civilian life. Having faced these challenges, it had always been my dream to start my own company while simultaneously helping other veterans in similar situations as mine; BRU Aerospace represents my ventures to fulfill that dream while also allowing me to once again serve the country I love. BRU Aerospace deals primarily in Aerospace and Aircraft structural assemblies to supply directly to the Department of Defense at the highest quality for the lowest overall cost. Underneath these tenants, we established a high-tech; state-of-the-art facility that we determined was required to ensure the level of quality we guarantee.
After establishing connections and relationships with some of the finest minds in Aerospace Parts Manufacturing, we established a Business Plan that we used to acquire an SBA loan to build the facility and begin flowing parts. On June 16th 2008 we were able to secure a 7a loan and Line of Credit totaling $500,000 through Metro Pacific Bank, providing the start-up funds for the company. The initial projected funds for building the facility fell short of the actual amount required, but the facility was eventually finished and based on contracting market prices was still decently inexpensive. While the building was being constructed and even until this day, most of the people who together comprise BRU Aerospace offer their services at no charge to the company, essentially working for free and understanding that they were securing themselves a position in the company at such time when it becomes profitable.
Our approach began as procuring and distributing parts while simultaneously constructing the facility to offset the growing construction costs. However, on August 1st 2008 without prior notice, Metro Pacific Bank denied us access to the Line of Credit, citing that the 7a loan (to be used for the construction of the facility and acquiring equipment) was not being dispensed at an acceptable rate and informed us that until the 7a loan was completely dispensed, no further advances from the Line of Credit could be made. The sudden stop of cash flow shocked the company and prevented us from being able to accept Boeing Commercial Aircraft contracts for urgent spares requirements in their support of domestic and international Airline Customers – These potential program contracts that had taken months of negotiation and preparation, were outlined in our Business Plan Section 4.1 Aircraft Market Segment and would have put us ahead in terms of our financial state.
The pressure to finish the facility as quickly as possible in order to satisfy the bank’s demands, forced us to do a majority of the work ourselves, saving as much money as possible while working to achieve the quality we aimed for to supply parts for the Department of Defense and the major Aerospace Primes. By removing our focus on contract acquisition, we were unable to bid on many jobs accessible to us – this directly affected the flow of money into the company.
By mid November, myself and the two other primary employees were finalizing the facility and we resumed our active bidding on government contracts. Through December, we continued our efforts diligently to secure as many jobs as possible in the most difficult month for contract procurement. Our efforts were rewarded with several contracts direct to the Department of Defense, and potentially many more in the coming months as a result of continued focus on actively bidding through the Military Procurement Centers. Once again, in March 2009, our bank denied us access to the remainder of the Line of Credit, this time jeopardizing our ability to fill our Government Contract obligations. The bank cites that they have little to no confidence in our ability to make the company profitable, never considering that we already have physical contracts direct to the government.
In order to maintain the existence of our company and fulfill the contracts we signed with the government, we require access to the remaining $50,000 in our Line of Credit that was agreed upon by both parties. We have provided the bank with proof of current contracts and projections that show the company’s profitability in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th quarters 2009, and after repeated attempts to communicate with the bank we have received no response pertaining to the release of the funds in the Line of Credit or other documents requested. During our last meeting with the bank, showing them our current contracts and potential contracts, they explained that we needed a larger bank to support the amount of work that we are actively bidding on, with a Line of Credit estimated in the range of $500,000 to $750,000 to support active negotiating contracts. And yet they still will not release the remainder of the funds.
Please help support this Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business and all of the Veterans who will be able to be employed by this company. Please contact me as soon as possible to assist in constructing a viable solution to our Financial Institutions unwillingness to support us. I really appreciate your time and any assistance you can offer is extremely appreciated.
Sincerely,
Kenneth C. Burgwald