SBA Division Of U.S. Bank Gets New President

Small business owners should get ready for U.S. Bank to adopt a better approach to dealing with organizations of their size.  U.S. Bank has appointed a new president of its SBA Division and recommitted itself to helping small businesses with loans when possible.

To first cover the new president: Julie Huston is supposed to have 24 years of "commercial and SBA lending experience," which is good news even if most of her previous employers have been big corporations.

Elliot Jaffee, an executive vice president at U.S. Bank, also said in a statement, "SBA lending is a strategically important component of U.S. Bank’s commitment to small business and we are committed to significantly grow SBA Division under Julie’s leadership."

Then one more important thing to note is that U.S. Bank was already on decent terms with small businesses even before its most recent round of announcements.  Its loans to small firms totaled over $13 billion as of June, and the bank ranked first in the "City Business Journals Network SMB Insights 2010 Brand Survey."

Anyway, if you’ve been turned down by U.S. Bank in the past and are still in need of a loan, it might be worth a shot to try again.

Huston’s appointment also provides a possible "in" if you manage to catch her attention with a nice congratulatory card or gift basket.