Dr. Winslow L. Sargeant was confirmed as Chief Counsel for Advocacy by the U.S. Senate on Friday, November 18. Dr. Sargeant is the sixth presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed Chief Counsel for the Office of Advocacy.
Dr. Sargeant has been serving as chief counsel since August of 2010 under a recess appointment. Under his leadership Advocacy has held more than 40 small business roundtables to listen to small businesses’ issues and concerns. Dr. Sargeant has traveled to all 10 federal regions and visited 23 states to meet with entrepreneurs and small business owners. In addition, the Office of Advocacy has filed 56 public comment letters with federal agencies trying to mitigate the impact of their proposed regulations on small business.
“It is inspiring to witness this country’s entrepreneurial spirit and it is an honor to represent small businesses every day,” said Dr. Sargeant. “I would like to thank President Obama, the Senate, and the small business organizations and entrepreneurs who have supported my nomination.”
Prior to serving as chief counsel, Dr. Sargeant was managing director of Venture Investors, LLC, in Madison, Wisconsin. The firm provided seed and early-stage money to high-potential health care and IT companies. Dr. Sargeant received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Dr. Sargeant and partners co-founded Aanetcom, a “fabless” semiconductor integrated circuit design company. The company designed state-of the-art computer circuits for telecom and broadband applications. In March 2000, Aanetcom was acquired by PMC-Sierra, a publicly traded company.
“My background gives me the unique perspective to understand the challenges that our entrepreneurs face day in and day out. As chief counsel I am dedicated to working on their behalf and fighting for their interests in Washington,” said Sargeant.