Congratulations to 2009 Women’s Festival keynote presenter and ProAmerica Bank founder Maria Contreras-Sweet, who was recently nominated by President Obama to head the Small Business Administration!

The former secretary of the California Business, Transportation, and Housing Agency and native of Mexico, if confirmed to the post, will succeed current SBA acting administrator Jeanne Hulit. As the Associated Press reports, she “would become the second Hispanic in Obama’s second-term Cabinet” (according to www.npr.org).

President Obama remarked, “Maria knows how hard it is to get started on a business–the grueling hours, the stress, the occasional self-doubt–although I have not yet seen self-doubt out of Maria” (according to www.whitehouse.gov).

The Women’s Festivals team is proud to acknowledge Maria as a past presenter and a role model for women everywhere.