Bill Gravell grew up at 1402 East Main Street in Round Rock when it was nothing but pasture between his front porch and downtown. His father delivered milk and loaded every neighborhood kid into the back of an old International pickup for sandlot baseball. That is the origin story of a man who would one day help a county double its economic value.

Gravell served six years as Justice of the Peace and then as Williamson County Judge — which meant he signed the COVID stay-home order, managed four tornadoes, a mass-casualty shooting, and wildfires, and launched Wilco Forward, the county program that channeled funds to nearly 3,300 small businesses to keep them alive. During that same stretch, Williamson County grew from $89.1 billion in total appraised value to $184.4 billion, adding 12,558 new small businesses along the way.

SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman called and asked him to do for five states what he had done at home. He never left Round Rock to do it. Today Gravell advocates for small business owners across Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana — and can be reached directly at william.gravell@sba.gov.