[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 199 (Monday, December 4, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5703-S5704]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                        Tribute to Mark Hayward

  Mr. REED. Madam President, I rise today to recognize one of the 
hardest working public servants in my State--indeed, in any State--Mark 
Hayward. Mark will be retiring at the end of the year as the District 
Director of the Small Business Administration in the State of Rhode 
Island.
  This is no normal retirement. Mark's commitment to public service and 
Rhode Island stretches back 45 years. He was first elected to the city 
council in his hometown of East Providence, RI, while he was still a 
student at Providence College. His peers on the council quickly 
recognized the intelligence, the compassion, and the work ethic that 
dominated his career. And despite his youth, they voted him mayor of 
the town.
  After 6 years as mayor, Mark made the decision to leave Rhode Island 
for Washington, DC, in order to serve as Deputy Director of 
Intergovernmental Affairs at the Environmental Protection Agency and 
later as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Territorial and International 
Affairs at the Department of the Interior.
  But the pull to return to Rhode Island was strong. After joining SBA 
in 1990, Mark moved to the Rhode Island office, which he was soon 
appointed to lead as the District Director. In total, Mark has spent a 
remarkable 29 years as acting and then permanent SBA District Director 
for the State of Rhode Island.
  Most of our small businesses have never known a world without Mark's 
guidance. But his story is characterized by more than longevity. It is 
defined by hard work and an encyclopedic knowledge of SBA programs and 
business opportunities. Mark's combination of dedication and knowledge 
has been particularly valuable during times of crisis. From snowstorms 
to hurricanes, to the devastating floods that struck the Ocean State in 
2010, Mark has been there to orchestrate the response and help 
businesses and homeowners recover.
  This past August, Mark was on the scene working to help small 
businesses recover from a devastating fire on Block Island that 
destroyed one of the island's landmark hotels and harmed a number of 
small businesses. But Mark's skill and commitment shone highest during 
the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when he seemed to be 
everywhere all at once. He was ever-present on Zoom townhalls, 
constantly on the phone with myself and other Members of the 
delegation, and always available to small business owners who needed 
help understanding the finer points of the Paycheck Protection Program 
and COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans.
  He was in demand because everybody knew that no one is better at 
slicing through the redtape than Mark.
  It is not exaggerating to say that the loans and grants he helped 
Rhode Island businesses secure kept them afloat. Across his two-plus 
decades as permanent District Director, Mark has helped pipe $6.8 
billion into Rhode Island's economy, enabling our small businesses to 
start, to grow, and to thrive while staying local. That is a hugely 
significant number, particularly for a State of Rhode Island's size.
  Mark's work ethic during the pandemic was simply an extension of the 
work he puts in every day. Mark has long worked early mornings and been 
on call at all hours of the week and weekend, always ready to listen 
and to help.
  Don't just take my word for it. SBA leadership has asked Mark to 
cover vacant Regional Administrator positions five times during his 
tenure with the Agency--a clear demonstration of the trust and respect 
his peers hold for him.
  For Mark, this isn't just business, it is personal. It is about his 
dedication and commitment to public service. He is not just helping 
small businesses with their finances. He visits and patronizes them in 
his free time, embracing the mantra ``to shop local.'' And, at this 
point in his career, it is hard to find a Rhode Island business that he 
hasn't helped.
  That is why we are going to miss Mark. Our entrepreneurs will miss 
his guidance, and I will miss his thoughtful advice and quick wit. I 
know he will fill his time with his family, his wife Nancy, his 
children--Patrick, Kelsey, and Megan--and grandchildren, Johnny and 
Lily. And in true Mark Hayward fashion, I also know he will find new 
ways to continue serving in Rhode Island.
  And, I must say, this is a Rhode Island story. So the following 
should be obvious. Mark's grandmother and my grandmother would talk 
about once a week on the telephone in Portuguese, just to make sure the 
whole State was running properly, and, if they had to give advice, they 
would give advice. So he is an old family friend as well as a brilliant 
public servant.
  Mark, congratulations on your retirement, and thank you.
  Let me yield to my colleague.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Rhode Island.
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Madam President, I am happy and proud to join my 
senior Senator in congratulating our friend Mark Hayward, the District 
Director of the Small Business Administration in Rhode Island, on his 
very well-deserved retirement after serving at SBA for more than 40 
years. It is a really remarkable career.
  In that time, as Jack said, Mark strengthened small businesses all 
across the Ocean State and created economic opportunity for Rhode 
Islanders from every community and background.
  He was so well regarded within the SBA that he was actually called 
down to Washington for a detail to help break in a new Small Business 
Administrator who needed to learn the ropes. The person that the 
organization trusted to get her going and working in a good way was 
Mark Hayward. Of course, he came back to New England and back to Rhode 
Island.
  Jack mentioned Mark's role in the pandemic. He had actually told us 
he was planning to retire before the pandemic, but he couldn't walk 
away from what was happening. So he went to

[[Page S5704]]

work to make sure that Rhode Island did a good job in the pandemic.
  It was not easy. These were big new programs that we had created, and 
implementing them and getting the money to flow smoothly through the 
banks and undoing the clogs that emerged and the different errors that 
were experienced was a big project.
  Mark made Rhode Island a model of good implementation of our pandemic 
response. Other SBA offices around the country looked to what he was 
doing and modeled on that.
  It was just a pretty gallant and wonderful thing that he was willing 
to remain at the helm through that difficult period, to work through 
these big programs and make them succeed and to help small businesses 
across our State through a period of real financial uncertainty and 
peril. Mark and his team delivered much needed Federal funding to 
businesses in every community, often providing a lifeline that allowed 
small business owners to keep their doors open and to keep their people 
on the payroll.
  That pandemic reinforced what we already knew about Mark. He knows 
Rhode Island's small businesses better than anybody, he is determined 
to be helpful, and he will stand up and rise to the occasion when the 
demand is there for his skills.
  So I join Jack in congratulating our friend Mark on an incredible 
run. We thank you, sir, for your dedication to lifting up small 
businesses across Rhode Island and for your commitment to public 
service. We have loved working with you.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The senior Senator from Rhode 
Island.