Two Springfield SBA specialists retire

The Springfield branch of the U.S. Small Business Administration has dropped to just one employee following the retirement of two longtime specialists.

Economic development specialist Janice Bowman and lender relations specialist Brent Jones will exit the office at the end of business June 27 after a combined 45 years with the SBA.

“There is no other reason than it was just time,” Bowman said of her 22 years on the job. “Brent is 65 and I’m 60. It’s time to rest for a while.”

After roughly a year with no formal branch manager, Suzanne Stearman took the reins of the SBA office Dec. 3 and now remains as its sole employee.

Bowman said the office might hire one replacement in the future, but she said Stearman could handle the workload until a decision was made.

“It’s the government, so there is no telling, but I’d imagine they hire one person within the next couple months,” she said.

Operating under the umbrella of the Kansas City office, lending at the Springfield branch for the fiscal year ending on Sept. 30, 2012, totaled $151 million, 0.07 percent behind the record $162.6 in fiscal 2011, according to Springfield Business Journal archives. Serving a 28-county area, the office closed on 385 guaranteed loans to borrowers in fiscal 2012.