[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 7805-7806]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO ANN KALAYIL

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I want to take a few minutes to 
acknowledge Ann Kalayil. Earlier this year, after 6 years, Ann stepped 
down as Regional Administrator of the U.S. General Services 
Administration's--GSA--Great Lakes Region. Ann Kalayil is a 
trailblazer. She is the first woman--and first Asian American--to serve 
as GSA Administrator of the six-State Great Lakes Region. I am honored 
to congratulate her on a job well done.
  Headquartered in Chicago, IL, the GSA is the Federal Government's 
real estate and procurement manager. As Regional Administrator, Ann 
Kalayil was responsible for 128 Federal buildings, 986 leased 
locations, 11 U.S. land ports, nearly 1,000 employees, and about $150 
million in contracts to small and economically disadvantaged 
businesses. To say Ann Kalayil had a big job is an understatement, but 
it will come as no surprise to the people who know her that she met the 
challenge head-on and thrived in the role.
  Her story is the story of the American dream. Born in Chicago, Ann 
was the daughter of Indian immigrants. When she was 5 years old, her 
parents moved back to Kerala, India. It was the first time Ann met her 
siblings, Tom, Sales, and Lisa. They were ecstatic to meet their baby 
sister but spoke very little English and struggled to communicate with 
each other. So what did Ann do? She took it upon herself to learn 
Malayalam, a South Indian language native to Kerala, India. Malayalam 
is an extremely complicated language, but Ann picked it up immediately, 
and people never guessed it wasn't her first language. This is how Ann 
would handle situations throughout her career. She never feared going 
out of her way to learn the needs of the community or group,

[[Page 7806]]

even if it meant she would do most of the work. All that matters to Ann 
Kalayil is getting results.
  People who know Ann best describe her as fierce, outspoken, and 
compassionate--just like her late father, Philip Kalayil. Her dad 
taught her the importance of these shared values and public service. 
Philip Kalayil was a Chicagoland legend. He was leader in the Indian 
American community, starting organizations to help people stay in touch 
with their culture and religion. Later, he would start the Indo-
American Democratic Organization, empowering people to register to vote 
and make their voices heard. Ann would later serve as its president. In 
2008, Philip was recognized by the Association for Asian American 
Studies with its Heart of Asian America Community Award, a well-
deserved honor.
  You could say public service was in Ann's blood, and although Philip 
is no longer with us, I know he would feel the same way. What a proud 
moment it must have been for him, watching his youngest daughter being 
sworn in to a top Federal job--appointed by the President of the United 
States--while holding the family Bible.
  Growing up as Philip Kalayil's daughter, Ann had a front row seat in 
how to be a leader in the community and has waged countless successful 
campaigns, issues ranging from education policy, campaign finance 
reform, immigration reform, and documenting Asian American history. 
During the 2008 Presidential campaign, Ann cochaired Obama's Asian 
American and Pacific Islander Leadership Council and was among a select 
few who was in a reserved area near the stage in Grant Park when Obama 
greeted a crowd of nearly 200,000 to celebrate the historic election. 
For all she takes on, her brother Tom only recalls seeing Ann nervous 
once, and it was when she was asked to throw the first pitch at a 
Chicago White Sox game following her appointment at the GSA.
  Prior to her appointment at the GSA, Ann worked for more than 12 
years at the University of Chicago in Information Technology Services 
in Emerging Technologies and Communications and as director of Client 
Services and Support. Like her father, she was also a teacher. Ann 
taught interdisciplinary courses on Asian Americans at DePaul 
University, Loyola University Chicago, and the University of Illinois 
at Chicago. Ann also holds a bachelor's degree in political science 
from the University of Illinois at Chicago, a bachelor's degree in 
computer science from Northeastern Illinois University, a master's 
degree in Asian studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign, and a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
  I want to congratulate Ann Kalayil on her wonderful career and her 
outstanding service to our community and the country. I wish her all 
the best.

                          ____________________