Key agency for Georgia’s small businesses gets a new leader
Kevin Cooke, a former Republican state lawmaker, has been tapped to lead the Small Business Administration’s Georgia office.
Cooke is stepping into the role after the office’s longtime district director, Terri Denison, retired in January after nearly 24 years in the post.
“I am looking forward to serving Georgia small business owners alongside our lending partners, resource partners and stakeholders to ensure they receive the counseling and capital they need to start or grow,” Cooke said in a statement.
Cooke is a native of Carrollton, a University of Georgia alumnus and worked for a time as the associate athletic director for Shorter University in Rome. He also served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 2011 until 2021. During his tenure, he supported Georgia’s controversial abortion law, HB 481, and said he considered Second Amendment rights to be a priority issue. He also campaigned on never voting to raise taxes.
In 2020, he lost in the Republican primary for a U.S. House seat that would later be won by Marjorie Taylor Greene.
The SBA was created in 1953 and is currently led by Kelly Loeffler, a former Georgia Republican U.S. senator and business executive. The agency has district offices across the U.S. and its territories, and provides training, loans, grants and more to entrepreneurs.
Small businesses are a cornerstone of the American economy, employing nearly half the nation’s workforce, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. There were about 1.4 million small businesses in Georgia in 2025, putting it in the top 5 states by number of smaller companies, according to data from the SBA.
Cooke started June 1, according to an SBA spokesperson.
“Kevin’s record of leadership, commitment to service, and deep experience supporting small business development makes him an outstanding choice to lead the SBA Georgia team,” Tyler Teresa, the SBA regional administrator for the Southeast, said in a statement.
The SBA announced in March 2025 it would be relocating regional offices out of six cities it has deemed sanctuary cities, including Atlanta.
There is no single definition of a sanctuary city; rather, it is a broad term applied to jurisdictions that have policies aimed at limiting cooperation with federal immigration enforcement actions. Georgia law prohibits sanctuary cities, and the city of Atlanta has denied the characterization that it is one.
The agency said in January it still planned to move out of Atlanta but had not decided on a new location yet. When asked about the move on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the agency said they had no new information.