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Three Triad business leaders were among the North Carolina voices heard by Obama administration staffers last week as they discussed the financial and regulatory challenges facing small businesses.

Russell Tuttle, a partner in Trade Street Capital Partners of Winston-Salem; Pam Whitaker, president of Key Resources Inc. of Greensboro; and Dean Naujoks, the Yadkin Riverkeeper, participated Thursday in a White House roundtable discussion with 45 North Carolina business officials, mostly from the Triangle.

They also were invited to attend President Barack Obama's speech on Friday during which he proposed elevating the U.S. Small Business Administration to a Cabinet-level agency. Each was nominated to attend the roundtable by Gov. Bev Perdue.

Tuttle represented the private-equity investing community at the roundtable. Whitaker was chosen because her 15-year-old temporary-staffing agency is one of the largest in the Triad, with a focus on logistics, distribution, manufacturing and production jobs.

The focus of the Business Forward roundtable is developing strategies for how the administration can help support economic competitiveness, job creation and innovation. Participants in the roundtable initiative also addressed issues such as health care reform implementation, access to capital and infrastructure development.

Several roundtables have been held.

"Business Forward believes business leaders play a particularly important role in policy debates because they understand the importance of looking at the long term, and because employers are among the first to suffer from the competitive challenges that face America's economy today," officials said in announcing the roundtable.

Naujoks could not be reached Monday for comment. Tuttle and Whitaker said Monday that they were impressed with the sincerity of the reactions of the administration staffers to their suggestions, even when Tuttle told them he felt the administration's "approach is almost anti-business, and they are losing business people as a result."

Whitaker said she was asked about the best partnership opportunities to spur job creation in the Triad and state.

"I told them it is all about job training and education," Whitaker said. "Kids who leave high school (graduating or otherwise) do not have the base education for job training. They especially need math skills, thinking and reasoning skills."

As a result, she said, there is "an extreme shortage of trained workers in the areas of machinists, electricians, welders and other industrial workers. If the Triad could train these skilled workers, we would be a job magnet."

Whitaker said she suggested the federal government could do more to incentivize manufacturing companies through grants "so they can retool their operations and train their workforce."

"This promotes 'made in America' and 'buy local' initiatives," she said.

Tuttle said he was interested in the administration's strategies for streamlining the federal government and making it more efficiently.

"They expressed their desire for clearing bureaucratic hurdles, which I hope will help it be more responsive to job creation initiatives," Tuttle said.