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Administrator's Bio

photo: Peter J. Thomas, Administrator, Business and Cooperative Programs

Bio for Peter J. Thomas
Administrator
Business and Cooperative Programs
USDA Rural Development


With over 35 years of administrative experience in both the public and private sectors, Peter brings to the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, a keen understanding of the workings of business administration and financial lending. As Administrator for the Business and Cooperative Programs, Peter is responsible for overseeing the National, State, and field offices on the implementation of grants and loans, with a budget of more than a billion dollars. This is not Peter's first appointment. He also proudly served President Reagan as the New England Regional Administrator of the General Services Administration. In this role, he was responsible for all operational and administrative functions of over 126 Federal facilities, managed over 1100 employees through 6 directors, and received the Administrator's Award for Excellence in 1985.

Prior to joining the Department of Agriculture, Peter was the president and founder of Bay State Strategies, a government relations firm that aids private sector businesses in identifying business opportunities that exist within Federal and local agencies. In 1997, after serving as chief of staff for Congressman Peter G. Torkildsen, Peter realized a need for private business to better understand the functions of government agencies and tapped his experience in electoral politics and administrative management to service small businesses throughout New England.

While serving in Congressman Torkildsen's office in the 6th congressional district, Peter worked as the Congressman's chief policy advisor and coordinated policy objectives with House Leadership and congressional committees. He also oversaw both the district and Washington offices. Peter was appointed by the administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) under President George Bush Sr., as the special assistant to the New England region's SBA. While with SBA, he partnered with the region's banks to encourage participation with SBA's various lending programs, as well as coordinated contracts that were allocated for small and disadvantaged businesses vying for contracts with the highly publicized Central Artery Third Harbor Tunnel Project in Boston, MA.

Peter spent many years as a private consultant to real estate development firms exploring local, regional, national, and international development projects; researching financing opportunities, defining and debating zoning issues, and managing public affairs issues. Another private sector venture, Peter founded and served as the president of the National Foundation for Economic Research, a non-partisan organization that analyzed and defended the principals of free enterprise through research and public hearings. The Foundation's budget, which Peter managed, grew to millions of dollars annually through fund-raising efforts nationally and locally.

Peter began his career in politics in the 1970s as a national field director for the Conservative Caucus in Vienna, VA, a non-profit organization, still active today, which is dedicated to communicating and upholding the core values of the Constitution.



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