NEWS | NSBA Past Chair Named to SBA Board

NSBA’s own ML Mackey continues to demonstrate her devotion to small-business advocacy across the nation.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has announced 15 appointees to a new committee, the “Invention, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship Federal Advisory Committee” (IIEAC), including NSBA Board of Trustee, ML Mackey, CEO of Beacon Interactive Systems in Massachusetts.  

Supported by a distinguished and diverse group of small-business leaders, the IIEAC’s main objective is to promote, expand and strengthen the innovation ecosystem. This includes innovation commercialization, lab-to-market translation and cultivating a more equitable federal innovation ecosystem based in inclusivity.

The SBA’s intent is to work with the advisory committee to collect insights and recommendations in helping to build policies and programs that foster American ingenuity and economic competitiveness.

For her continued commitment to supporting small business, NSBA thanks ML Mackey and is looking forward to supporting the IIEAC as it aims to support the small-business community.

Members of the IIEAC’s Inaugural Class

1. IIEAC Chair: Philip Gaskin, Executive Fellow and Strategic Advisor to the CEO, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation (Mo.)

2. IIEAC Vice Chair: Julie Lenzer, Chief Innovation Officer, Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (N.H.)

3. Eric Adolphe, CEO & Founder, Forward Edge-AI, Inc. (Texas)

4. Dr. Ramon Barquin III, Chairman of the Board, Atlantic University (Puerto Rico)

5. Richard Carroll, Chairman, Innovative Defense Enterprises (Fla.)

6. Dr. Dedric Carter, Vice Chancellor for Innovation & Chief Commercialization Officer, Washington University in Saint Louis (Mo.)

7. Dr. Carol Dahl, Board Member, VentureWell, VertueLab, and Washington Research Foundation; Trustee, Wisys (Wash.)

8. Colleen D. Egan, President and CEO, Illinois Science and Technology Coalition (Ill.)

9. ML Mackey, CEO, Beacon Interactive Systems (Mass.)

10. Andrew McCandless, Chairman and CEO, Bascom Hunter (La.)

11. David McFeeters-Krone, Principal, Intellectual Assets (Ore.)

12. Dr. Sally Morton, Executive Vice President, Arizona State University’s Knowledge Enterprise (Ariz.)

13. Dr. Jake Reder, CEO, Celdara Medical (N.H.)

14. Dr. Jenny Servo, President, Dawnbreaker (N.Y.)

15. Timothy Tiemann, Managing Director of Innovation Programs, California State University Northridge (Calif.)