This story has been updated to include statements from a letter to sent to SBA staff.

The Small Business Administration has named an agency official as its acting head.

Jeanne Hulit, the SBA’s associate administrator in its Office of Capital Access, will take over from current SBA Administrator Karen Mills when Mills leaves her post later this month. A search for a permanent successor for Mills is continuing.

Mills announced Hulit’s appointment in a memo to the SBA staff that was released by the agency’s spokeswoman, Emily Cain.

Hulit’s office oversees the SBA’s loan programs for small businesses. She previously served as a regional SBA administrator for six New England states and has 18 years of banking experience, the letter said.

“For the past four years Jeanne has been an important leader at the SBA both in the field and here at headquarters, serving first as Region 1 Administrator before leading the critical Office of Capital Access during a time when the agency saw two record years of delivering capital into the hands of more small business owners and entrepreneurs than ever before,” Mills said in the letter to staff. “At headquarters, Jeanne has led the charge to streamline and simplify SBA’s loan programs and expand access to our lending programs.”

Mills, who announced in February that she planned to resign, said last month she would leave at the end of August.

Last year, President Obama merged business and trade agencies and the SBA — which he elevated to the Cabinet level — into one department.

“We continue to work closely with the White House on the appointment of my permanent successor,” Mills said in the letter. “As I’ve said to you before, I continue to have the greatest confidence in SBA’s leadership team and all of your ability to deliver the mission of this agency going forward.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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