A Falmouth banker has been selected to head the U.S. Small Business Administration’s programs and services in New England.
Jeanne Hulit, senior vice president for commercial lending at Citizens Bank in Portland since 2002, will oversee the administration’s district offices from headquarters in Boston, according to a press release from the SBA. Hulit served for a decade as a vice president for Key Bank National Association and is the former deputy director of the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development. She also held a number of other state positions. Sen. Olympia Snowe recommended Hulit for the position in a letter to President Obama in early June.
Hulit, a Democrat, last fall ran unsuccessfully for the state Senate seat representing Cumberland, Chebeague Island, Falmouth, Gray, Long Island, North Yarmouth and Yarmouth, the Portland Press Herald reported. Richard Connor, owner of MaineToday Media Inc., said in a June column that Hulit and a colleague at Citizens Bank helped to secure his purchase of the company, according to the paper.
Hulit is the second Maine woman to take a high-profile post in the SBA this year. Karen Gordon Mills, a venture capitalist and Brunswick resident, was confirmed as administrator of the SBA in April.