Karen Gordon Mills: Who???

So Obama apparently is about to name Karen Gordon Mills to run the Small Business Administration. Mills is apparently a venture capitalist who splits her time between Maine and Manhattan.

Check out the hyper-informative Web sites of her two firms, Solera Capital and MMP Group.

Doesn't this woman know the Obama administration is all about transparency?

Solera, according to some quick Google searches, owns the mac-and-cheese company Annie's Homegrown and has also invested in a chain called Calypso Christiane Celle, which sells women's apparel and accessories.

According to this piece from the Harvard Business School alumni newsletter, she worked for McKinsey & Co. and the leveraged buyout firm E.S. Jacobs & Co.

From that piece:

Solera, which Mills cofounded in 2000 with a group of other investment professionals, has $250 million under management and specializes in later-stage invest-ments in companies that could use a boost in capital to grow substantially. “Our operating philosophy is to invest about $15–20 million in each deal and take a controlling interest,” notes Mills. “We like to be the capital that comes in to grow the business to the next level — build the next plant, make an acquisition, or expand the brand.”

What makes Solera unique, she adds, is its research-intensive focus and the fact that its four managing partners are women. “But we're not a firm that invests only in women-owned companies,” says Mills. “What we've done is build a network — beyond our usual network — of powerful women executives, including HBS classmates Orit Gadiesh and Ann Fudge, who help us in deals with knowledge and access.”