MCC Daily Tribune

Sonya Smith Appointed as SUNY State Director of the New York Small Business Development Centers

SUNY Interim Chancellor Deborah F. Stanley announced the appointment of Sonya Smith as the SUNY State Director of the New York Small Business Development Centers (SBDC). Smith is known for bringing together public/private partnerships and creating innovative programs to assist small businesses served by SBDC. She has risen in the ranks through SBDC, and is the first woman and first African American appointed to lead New York’s vast SBDC network in its nearly 40-year history. Smith previously served as the Pennsylvania SBDC’s associate state director of programs and policy.

“Sonya Smith brings that wealth of experience to New York’s SBDCs at a critical time for small businesses as the economy rebounds,” said Interim Chancellor Stanley. “In the last 21 months, New York’s 22 SBDCs helped small businesses reimagine the services they provide, reopen, and thrive over a tumultuous and unprecedented period. Sonya’s tenure with the Pennsylvania SBDC was marked by her collaborative style of leadership, focus on results, and innovative approach to engaging with communities who most need the services provided by SBDCs. We are pleased Sonya has taken the helm to help New York’s entrepreneurs make their business dreams a reality.”

SUNY Board Trustee Marcos Crespo said, “New York’s Small Business Development Centers continue to play an important role in the state’s economic development, in which they tirelessly provide insight and expertise to lead the state’s long-term economic recovery. The small businesses SBDC assist are the fabric of communities, and deserve the support of public agencies to continue to operate and cultivate their success. With the knowledge and passion Sonya Smith brings to SUNY’s SBDC, I am confident that she will lead the charge in assisting more businesses and entrepreneurs, while also continuing New York’s legacy of growing and maintaining small businesses, even in the midst of the most challenging setbacks.”

New York’s network of 22 regional SBDCs are the nation’s premier consulting services for small business owners and entrepreneurs and represent an integral part of the state’s entrepreneurship and economic agenda. SBDCs played a critical role in the state’s pandemic response, helping nearly 5,500 COVID-19 impacted businesses secure more than $600 million in federal funding to date, and helping thousands more navigate ways to operate remotely. This work helped preserve over 28,000 jobs and created 2,500 new ones over the past year alone.

Below are quotes from state leaders. The full release is available online.

Senator Anna M. Kaplan, chair of the State Senate Committee on Commerce, Economic Development and Small Business said, “With our small business community continuing to feel the devastating impact of the pandemic, the role of New York’s SBDC’s as a resource and a lifeline for small business owners is more important than ever. I’m thrilled that Sonya Smith has been appointed to lead our state’s SBDC network, bringing her vast experience and her unique perspective to the role, and ensuring these vital centers will continue to provide the high-quality assistance that business owners have come to rely upon.”

Assembly Member Harry B. Bronson, chair of the Assembly Committee on Economic Development, Job Creation, Commerce, and Industry said, “As a small business owner and the chair of the Assembly’s Committee on Economic Development, I know how New York Small Business Development Centers have helped small business owners across our state. I welcome Sonya Smith as the state director of the New York Small Business Development Centers. With COVID-19 and the challenges of workforce recruitment and retention, reimagining the business model and rebuilding in the face of an economic crisis will require strong innovative approaches to ensure success. I know Ms. Smith’s experience will help her focus on small business assistance and rebuild our economy that will include all New Yorkers.”

Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages, chair of the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Legislative Caucus, said, “I applaud the appointment of Sonya Smith as the new state director of the New York Small Business Development Centers. Sonya has a track record of creatively using data to craft and implement programs to help small businesses. As New York State’s small businesses continue to experience hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sonya Smith will be the right person to guide business owners through this difficult time.” ...

About Sonya Smith
Smith comes to SUNY from the Pennsylvania SBDC, where she most recently served as associate state director of programs, managing the design and implementation of services provided by 16 regional centers and more than 120 staff to support Pennsylvania entrepreneurs and small businesses. She led the creation of a dashboard for network performance data, which was continuously evaluated for compliance and to make data-driven decisions for innovative programs. She also successfully led an organizational change management initiative to ensure the SBDC maintained its relevance for building small business knowledge and expertise.

Prior to this, Smith served as the assistant director of Grants and Sponsored Projects at Kutztown University, and before that, rose through the ranks of Pennsylvania’s SBDC, holding the positions of assistant director, budget analyst, and associate business consultant at the Kutztown University SBDC. She holds a Master of Business Administration from Kutztown University, and a bachelor’s in accounting from Albright College.

About NY SBDC
Established in 1984, the New York SBDC has worked since then with more than 519,000 businesses, helping them to invest $7.5 billion in the state economy and create more than 240,000 jobs. The New York SBDC works closely with other state economic development agencies, faculty, and students at host institutions, as well as representatives from private industry and business to focus resources on assisting small businesses and entrepreneurs. To learn more about how NY SBDC provides free services to entrepreneurs, visit www.nysbdc.org.

About The State University of New York
The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive system of higher education in the United States, and more than 95 percent of all New Yorkers live within 30 miles of any one of SUNY’s 64 colleges and universities. Across the system, SUNY has four academic health centers, five hospitals, four medical schools, two dental schools, a law school, the state’s only college of optometry, and manages one US Department of Energy National Laboratory. In total, SUNY serves about 1.3 million students in credit-bearing courses and programs, continuing education, and community outreach programs. SUNY oversees nearly a quarter of academic research in New York. Research expenditures system-wide are nearly $1.1 billion in fiscal year 2021, including significant contributions from students and faculty. There are more than three million SUNY alumni worldwide, and one in three New Yorkers with a college degree is a SUNY alum. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunity, visit www.suny.edu.

Rosanna Yule
Government and Community Relations
02/01/2022