SBDC funding uncertain

BOULDER — The controversy over the appointment of the state’s director of the Small Business Development Center program might be much ado about nothing.

Gov. Bill Owens named Mary Madison as associate director of the state SBDC program in January. But Madison’s appointment worried some development-center heads because of a national requirement stating that the director of the development centers should be a career nonpolitical employee.

“That’s to maintain some consistency of leadership in the operation of the SBDCs,” explained Johnnie Albertson, associate administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration in Washington, D.C. The SBA oversees the SBDCs and helps fund the…