The U.S. Small Business Administration appointed Thomas Stith III, the former chief of staff to Governor Pat McCrory, to serve as director for the North Carolina district. He was sworn in Monday.
Stith, a Durham native, joins the SBA after working at The Michael Thomas Group, a consulting firm he co-founded to advise on business development opportunities.
Stith will oversee North Carolina’s SBA office and focus on assisting local entrepreneurs to start and grow their businesses. He will also be in charge of implementing SBA programs concerning accessing capital, business advising and government contracts.
In the last fiscal year, the SBA’s N.C. office backed more than $675 million in loans to small businesses and trained and counseled more than 16,000 entrepreneurs through various partnerships. The N.C. SBA also oversaw more than $2.2 billion of contracts awarded to small businesses across the state.
“I look forward to working with the North Carolina SBA team, our state resource partners, and the small business owners of the Tar Heel state,” Stith said in a release.
Stith previously worked as a health care consultant and president of the toxicology lab at Kernersville’s LJP Lab, which focuses on substance abuse, pain management and rehabilitation. He also Sworked at Durham-based real estate investment firm Rivermont Capital, where he was a senior adviser.
Stith served as Chief of Staff to Governor Pat McCrory from 2013 to 2017, and was a Durham city councilman from 1999 to 2007.
Stith earned master’s and bachelor’s degrees in Business Administration from North Carolina Central University.
