Ashley Bell (politician)  Ashley D. Bell is an American government administrator who serves as Regional Administrator of the Small Business Administration Region IV, covering the Southeast Region of the United States, since February 26, 2018. In October 2019, it was announced that Bell would serve as a White House Policy Advisor for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Office of American Innovation. Bell was elected to the Hall County, Georgia County Commission at the age of 27. Previously a Democrat, Bell left the party to become a Republican in 2011. From 2011 to 2012, he was the senior surrogate for U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s presidential campaign. In 2012, he was appointed as a special advisor to Mitt Romney during the general election and co-chaired Blacks for Romney with U.S. Senator Tim Scott. In 2014, he was the senior surrogate for Jack Kingston for senate. He was also the national co-chair for Rand Paul’s presidential campaign. In 2016, Bell was appointed Senior Strategist and National Director of African-American Political Engagement for the Republican National Committee. in 2017, he joined the Trump Pence Presidential Transition Team, later serving as a Special Assistant in the Bureau of Public Affairs. On July 7, 2017, the United States Peace Corps announced Bell as the new Associate Director for External Affairs, overseeing Peace Corps’ Offices of Communications, Congressional Relations, Gifts and Grants Management, and Strategic Partnerships and Intergovernmental Affairs. Bell was appointed on February 21, 2018 by President Donald Trump to serve as Regional Administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration for Region IV; serving nine districts located in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Bell has oversight of over $5 billion in SBA-backed lending, the Counseling arm of the SBA, which counseled over 225,000 entrepreneurs last year in Region IV, and the contracting programs for small business, which account for over 23% of all federal contracts awarded. Bell began his career as a public defender, later co-founding the law firm of Bell & Washington LLP based in Atlanta. Bell initially focused on general civil litigation, later going on to concentrate on public finance and government litigation. Bell was named a 2017 Georgia "Super Lawyer Rising Star", one of the 2016 "Top 40 Young Lawyers" by the American Bar Association, a 2016 “Lawyer on the Rise” by Georgia’s leading legal journal. Bell is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the 20/20 Bipartisan Justice Center, which purports to be the only nationwide coalition of Black Republicans, Democrats and Independents focused on criminal justice reform.