[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 86 (Thursday, June 30, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 30, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                      TRIBUTE TO GONZALO F. AYALA

                                 ______


                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 30, 1994

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the extraordinary 
achievements of Mr. Gonzalo F. Ayala, president of Community Capital 
Bank. He is one of the few prominent members of the business world who 
continues to maintain his sense of social consciousness.
  His rise to success inspires everyone. At the age of 16, he left his 
native Bolivia for the United States and settled with his sister in 
Brooklyn's Cobble Hill neighborhood. While working for Forbes magazine 
as a control clerk and computer operator, he studied accounting at 
night at Baruch College.
  It took Mr. Ayala 8 years to complete his bachelor's degree. But, 
that did not deter him from continuing night school to pursue a 
master's degree in business administration from Pace University. During 
that time, he assumed his first position with a bank and was hired as 
an auditor for Capital National Bank.
  His next important career move occurred when he was hired by 
Northfield Savings Bank in Staten Island, a very prestigious investment 
institution. As an executive vice president, he played an important 
role in the maintenance of $330 million in assets.
  He resigned from that institution and joined a struggling community 
development bank, Community Capital, where he was hired as vice 
president and cashier. This bank is only one of four lending 
institutions which practices socially conscious commercial banking.
  Since then, Mr. Ayala has become president of Community Capital. He 
has kept the focus of the bank on lending to economically distressed 
areas, as part of an effort to revitalize the community. Despite 
relatively small resources, the bank has become a profitmaking 
institution and continues to grow while servicing those who might be 
overlooked elsewhere.
  Mr. Ayala's ability to retain his community consciousness and 
commercial savvy, should be admired and emulated. His success attests 
to the worthiness of hard work and dedication. I hope my fellow 
colleagues will join with me in commending Mr. Gonzalo F. Ayala for 
being a model of personal and business achievement.

                          ____________________