Thomas M. Sullivan
- Senior Vice President, Small Business Policy, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Thomas M. Sullivan is senior vice president of small business policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Working with chambers of commerce and the U.S. Chamber’s nationwide network, Sullivan harnesses the views of small businesses and translates that grassroots power into federal policies that bolster free enterprise and reward entrepreneurship.
Previously, Sullivan was an attorney in the government relations practice of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, LLP, a law firm with a major East Coast presence from Tallahassee to Boston. Before rejoining Nelson Mullins, he served as General Counsel for the Bipartisan Policy Center.
Sullivan represented several firm clients before Congress and federal agencies and built a small business advocacy platform that included the Coalition for Responsible Business Finance, a group of non-bank small business providers, and the Small Business Coalition for Regulatory Relief.
Sullivan received unanimous Senate approval to serve as SBA’s Chief Counsel for Advocacy for the George W. Bush administration and remains active in the Bush-Cheney Alumni network. As Chief Counsel for Advocacy at the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), he was directly involved in more than 100 regulatory and legislative matters, testified frequently before congressional committees, and was a spokesman on economic conditions and entrepreneurship. The hallmark of his tenure at SBA was a national legislative initiative guaranteeing that small business has a voice in state regulatory decisions.
Sullivan serves on the Board of Trustees for Saint Leo University and on the Board of Directors for the Global Entrepreneurship Network. He is a graduate of the Chamber’s 4-year Institute for Organization Management (IOM) credential program.
Sullivan earned his Juris Doctor from Suffolk University Law School and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Boston College. He lives in Virginia with his wife and two sons.
