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Chicago-born Ann 'Lata' Kalayil, a close friend of fellow Chicagoan and US President Barack Obama for over a decade from the time the latter was a community organiser and then a state Senator, has been appointed by the President to a top federal job.
Kalayil was sworn in on Monday as the regional administrator of the US General Services Administrator -- the first woman and first Asian American to serve as GSA Administrator of the six-state Great Lakes Region.
With her father, Philip Kalayil holding the family's bible, Kalayil was sworn into office by Stephen R Leeds, senior counselor to the GSA Administrator Martha N Johnson, who was also present at the ceremony along with over 200 family and friends of Kalayil, government officials and GSA employees.
The oath-taking ceremony took place in the Main Lounge of the Union League Club in downtown Chicago.
The GSA is the federal government's real estate and procurement manager, and as Regional Administrator, Kalayil will be responsible for an inventory of 128 federal buildings, 986 leased locations and 11 US land ports of entry on the Canadian border.
Headquartered in Chicago, the regional office, which employs nearly 1,000 people also last year awarded $145.4 million in contracts to small and small disadvantaged businesses.
Kalayil, who resigned her position as director of client services and support in networking services and information technologies at the University of Chicago, where she was also the founder and co-director of the South Asian American Policy and Research Institute told rediff.com that she was elated over her new position, which she said was virtually tailor-made for her.
Kalayil, who was with the University of Chicago for 18 years, said: "We have quite a large client base and so this position is really a nice kind of blend of work I did in the University and the work I did outside of the University."
She said it was also an opportunity for her to raise the profile of the GSA "because most people don't know of the GSA and the invaluable work it does, and only at best know of it in a vague sort of way as some kind of a federal agency."
Kalayil said, "The GSA plays such an important role and invests a lot in the communities and also in small and disadvantaged businesses and in environmental programmes -- the greening of buildings," and was also a beneficiary of the Reconstruction and Recovery Act and the stimulus package pushed by the President and approved by the Congress two years ago to stimulate the economic malaise.
In her remarks at the ceremony after being sworn in, she said, greening the agency's buildings, fleet operations and work habits to achieve zero environment footprint would be a top priority of hers.
Also, "to help improve the nation's economy through GSA programmes such as those that assist small business."
Kalayil, who pledged to make "government more open and transparent," said she would bring her experience and expertise to bear in "enhancing the use of information technology by federal agencies to streamline government processes."
She said, "Under the Obama administration, GSA will work hard here to improve transparency and provide citizen access across the board."
Kalayil, was the co-chair of Obama's Asian American and Pacific Islander Leadership Council during the campaign and was among a select group of the President-elect's supporters in a reserved area by the stage at Grant Park in Chicago, when Obama greeted a crowd of close to 200,000 celebrating his victory over Senator John McCain.
Immediately, after Obama's victory, Kalayil who was one of the founders of the Indian American Democratic Organisation that strongly supported Obama when he first made his political foray running for the state Senate and thereafter to the US Senate, told rediff.com, "Many of us forget or are not even aware of the African American community's years of sacrifice that enabled us to proudly reclaim our citizenship."
"Now, we stand behind President Obama to offer our spirit of service and sacrifice, and you bet, yes, we did!"