Linda McMahon,President-elect Donald Trump's pick to run the U.S. Small BusinessAdministration, once supported a plan that could have eliminated the cabinet seatshe is now slated to hold.

Ms. McMahon, aco-founder of World Wrestling Entertainment Inc., twice unsuccessfully ran fora Senate seat in her home state of Connecticut. As part of her 2012 campaign,her economic plan called for getting rid of "outdated/ineffective andduplicative programs," and expressed support for a 2012 proposal by PresidentBarack Obama to mergethe SBA, theCommerce Department's core functions andfour other entities into one unit.

A spokeswomanfor Ms. McMahon, 68 years old, declined to comment on any issues related to theSBA before confirmation hearings.

As head of theSBA, Ms. McMahon would oversee an agency with a budget of more than $10 billionthat last year approved more than 70,000 government-backed private-sector loans.The SBA also provides mentoring and counseling, and oversees federaldisaster-relief programs.

Ms. McMahon andher husband, Vince, bought his ailing father's wrestling business in 1982 andtook the company public in 1999. The WWE, which had $659 million in revenuelast year, grew by developing a cast of larger-than-life chiseled villains andheroes who seemed drawn from comic books.

Since steppingdown as chief executive in 2009, Ms. McMahon has turned her attention topolitics and to promoting women's leadership and entrepreneurship. The couplestill own a controlling stake in WWE, where Mr. McMahon serves as chairman andCEO.

Ms. McMahoninitially supported New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's Republican presidentialbid, but gave $7 million to super PACs backing Mr. Trump late in the campaign,including a $1 million donation a month before the election, according tofederal election records.

The McMahonsalso were large donors to the Trump Foundation, according to tax records.

In announcingthe nomination on Wednesday, Mr. Trump called Ms. McMahon "one of thecountry's top female executives advising businesses around the globe. Shehelped expand WWE from a modest 13-person operation to a publicly traded globalenterprise with more than 800 employees in offices world-wide."

Ms. McMahon rantwo of the most expensive U.S. Senate campaigns in American history. She spentabout $100 million combined, mostly from her personal fortune, but lost toConnecticut's longtime attorney general Richard Blumenthalin 2010 and then-Rep. Chris Murphy in 2012, bothDemocrats.

In her 2012campaign, Ms. McMahon pitched herself as a job creator and called forreductions in federal spending. "If a program is effective and needed it willcontinue; but if it is not, it should be revised or canceled," according to hercampaign literature.

PresidentObama's proposal to combine the SBA with other entities "really never gainedtraction," said Tony Wilkinson, president of theNational Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders. "I think there was aconcern that it would get buried in the Department of Commerce and thatsmall-business issues needed their own agency," he said.

The trade group, which represents lenders who make SBA-backed loans, is lookingforward to working with Ms. McMahon, Mr. Wilkinson said.

Ms. McMahon hascalled for reducing financial regulation, stating that Dodd-Frank financialreform "has significantly increased the costs and reduced the viability ofsmall, community banks upon which Connecticut's small businesses rely forbusiness loans."

Moreover, herplatform included cutting the top business tax rate to 25% from 35%, allowingbusinesses to deduct 100% of capital expenses.

In addition toher political activities, Ms. McMahon has focused on moving women intoleadership positions, an area some familiar with her work believe will be apriority at the SBA.

Ms. McMahon isthe co-founder and chief executive of Women's Leadership Live, a two-year-oldstartup that focuses on leadership opportunities for women. Sessions for aconference held in Salt Lake City in October included "Thrive ThroughDisruption" and "Owning Your Impossible and Learning to Fly," plus a "SharkTank"-like business pitch competition.

"Linda hasalways been a supporter of women business owners and entrepreneurs in Connecticut,"said Fran Pastore, chief executive of the Women'sBusiness Development Council in Stamford, Conn., which has received fundingfrom Ms. McMahon. "I am anxious to see how she will grow the SBA and thatparticularly."

Ms. McMahonalso was a major donor to the Women's Business Development Council in Stamford,Conn., which provides training and education to business owners, and hosts twoSBA programs aimed at women business owners.

Ms. McMahon'sbusiness record became an issue in both of her Senate campaigns. After acomplete list of her creditors from a 1976 bankruptcy filing was published in alocal newspaper during her 2012 bid, she paid off the earlier debts.

In 2010, Ms.McMahon bungled an answer about the minimum wage at a press conference duringthat year's Senate race. Opponents, including Democrats and labor unions,accused her of being out of touch with workers.

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Itmay be a while before we find out.

Consideringthe range of cabinetpicks now under way with President-elect Donald Trump's transition team,the chief of the Small Business Administration is sure to rank pretty low.

Headingup the 63-year-old-agency isn't, after all, a high profile position such asTreasury Secretary or Secretary of State; in fact, it took more than a year forthe most recent administrator to be nominated and confirmed.

Yetthe SBA is vital in terms of economic development. During the financial crisis,the agency saw itself elevated to a cabinet-level position under administratorKaren Mills. At the time, the SBA was instrumental in unfreezing credit marketsfor small-business borrowers, and encouraging banks to lend through itsguaranteed loan program. Today, the SBA has a loan portfolio, including itsflagship 7(a) and 504 loans, of $124 billion. That financing, plus itscounseling, educational and technical assistance, is a critical prop toentrepreneurs nationwide.

Theagency, which has 2,000 full-time employees, is currently led by MariaContreras-Sweet, a former entrepreneur and transportation and housing secretaryfor the state of California. She has made boosting lending and outreach tominority entrepreneurs a priorityduring her tenure.

Atleast onenews report has floated Steve Chabot, chairman of the House Small BusinessCommittee, as a potential pick for the position, but a spokeswoman for hisoffice said Tuesday that there have been no conversations with the Trumptransition team about heading the agency. "Chairman Chabot believes he bestserves small businesses as a legislator and looks forward to working with thenew leadership at the SBA and the Trump Administration as a whole," thespokeswoman said.

Hereare three possibilities for the post, according to small-business sources.

MaryAnne Bradfield

Bradfieldcurrently leads Trump's transition team for the SBA, according to the Trump transitionteam website.She has served both as a counselor to the deputy administrator and as anassistant deputy administrator of the SBA under George W. Bush. She was also astate lobbyist for the National Rifle Association, according to her publicLinkedin profile. While she lacks "big management experience," her previouswork at the SBA makes her a likely contender, says Peter Cohan, a lecturer ofstrategy and entrepreneurship at Babson College. Cohan adds that transitionteam leaders are frequently considered for posts in new presidentialadministrations.

BruceLeVell

Georgia-basedjewelry store owner Levell co-founded the National Diversity Coalition forTrump, a voter outreach group that counts among its board the conservative talkshow host Wayne Dupree, and Michael Cohen, lawyer for the Trump Organization. Aformer chair of the Gwinnett County GOP, LeVell has been a vocal advocate forTrump in many of the battleground states, as well as a frequent commentator onFox News and CNN. "I wouldn't rule anything out," LeVell said when asked by Fortuneif he was being considered for the post. "I would like to see the SBA play aconstructive role as a necessary source of credit for small business." LeVellwas also a board director for the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority(MARTA).

ChristineToretti

Torettiis the former chief executive of S.W. Jack Drilling Company, reportedly one ofthe largest land based, family-owned gas and oil drilling company in the U.S.The company went out of business in 2010, after which Toretti was a financeco-chair of the Republican National Committee during the 2012 race. Toretti wasinitially in charge of Trump's transition team overseeing the SBA, as reportedby Politico in mid-November. She is currently the nationalcommitteewoman for the Republican Party of Pennsylvania.

Bradfield,Toretti, and the SBA transition team did not immediately respond to Fortune'srequests for comment.

TheSmall Business Administration declined to comment.

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