Sarah Mattson was working in Chattanooga’s Tennessee Small Business Development Center (TSBDC) when Tim Kelly, the city’s mayor, announced in early 2023 that he would appoint a director of entrepreneurship for the city.
“When he first announced that, I thought it was awesome,” says Mattson, then the senior small business consultant in the TSBDC office. “I thought someone from the city needed to be in that arena.”
Turns out, she was that someone. The Mobile, Alabama, native “couldn’t apply fast enough,” won the newly created position and started in May 2023.
“Tim wanted someone in his administration thinking of small business all day, every day,” Mattson says. “That’s my job.