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The Los Angeles World Affairs Council held an exclusive reception celebrating Women's History Month, featuring the Honorable Maria Contreras-Sweet, 24th Administrator of the Small Business Administration and Chair of the Los Angeles World Affairs Council & Town Hall’s Board of Directors. 

Speaker: The Hon. Maria Contreras-Sweet served as an Obama cabinet member, California state cabinet official and investor/entrepreneur. Her achievements in bringing efficiencies and modernization to large scale organizations have earned her international acclaim. Honorable Contreras-Sweet, was sworn in as a member of President Obama’s cabinet as the 24th Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). She was charged with supporting America’s 28 million small businesses, which create a majority of US jobs and employ half of our nation’s private-sector workforce. As an entrepreneur, Contreras-Sweet is one of a few in the US to start a publicly-traded bank. Headquartered in downtown Los Angeles, the bank focused on the small and mid-size market. She served as its founding and executive chairwoman, successfully steering it through the great recession. Prior, she served as the California cabinet Secretary of the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency.