Bailey DeVries is co-founder and chief executive officer of GELDO, a company building credit risk transfer solutions for small businesses. She is also a partner at Courage Small Business Partners, an asset management firm investing in lower middle market funds and companies.

DeVries served as associate administrator and head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)’s Office of Investment and Innovation from 2021 to 2025, where she led the agency’s $48 billion portfolio of private fund investments and $4 billion in annual innovation funding programs. DeVries managed federal programs which provide America’s small businesses and startups with access to private equity and debt financing, as well as R&D contracts and grants to stimulate innovation and economic growth. These programs include the Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) Program, the Small Business Innovation Research and Technology Transfer Programs (SBIR/STTR), and SBA’s innovation ecosystem support organization (ESO) programs. DeVries led transformational changes to the SBIC program—modernizing program regulations, policies, and underwriting standards and practices, developing and launching a new SBA agency-backed security to expand the SBIC portfolio, and implementing new technology solutions for improved oversight, reporting, and monitoring of the SBIC investment portfolio. In 2023, she also served as the acting head of the SBA’s Office of Capital Access, where she led the agency’s portfolio of loan programs and oversaw the implementation of policy modernizations to SBA loan programs.  

DeVries served on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee which provides the commission with advice on its rules, regulations, and policies regarding investor protections, maintaining fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitating capital formation. Prior to public service, DeVries served in strategy, capital formation, business development, and investment roles at Greenspring Associates, Trail Mix Ventures (TMV), T. Rowe Price Associates, and Sotera Defense Solutions (formerly Global Strategies Group). She began her career in Washington, DC, at the Corporate Executive Board (CEB) (acquired by Gartner Research) in the firm’s financial services research practice.  

DeVries holds an MBA from Georgetown University, an M.S. from Northwestern University, and a B.A. from Wake Forest University. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Center for American Entrepreneurship, and she lives in Baltimore, Maryland, with her husband, Lawson, and two daughters, Bryant and Blake.