Washington, DC
DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR MICHELE SUMILAS: Thank you so much Matt [Rees] for MCing the event today, and thank you to Ambassador [Michael J.] Adler for his kind words. I don't know, David, if I would take this job based on his admonition, but let me just say I'm really honored to be here. It's actually my first swearing in as the Acting Deputy Administrator. So, I’m very honored to do that. I know the Administrator wishes she could be here. She's currently on travel, but she has asked me to pass along her congratulations and to say that she's thrilled you're stepping into this role.
So, I also want to just say, welcome to David's family, his friends and colleagues. David's family is spread across, as we know, several continents this morning. We've seen them all, and I have watched David point them out to everyone on the screen. He’s so proud of them.
And, I also just want to say that it was really my pleasure to have met his mom in my office earlier. We learned that we are both children of federal workers, and I think that really just brings a whole different spirit to why we're here and what we do. Mary Lou raised her three children after David's dad passed away. And, she really spent her career in the U.S. government building IT systems and actually worked with USAID for a time, I learned, over in our Rosslyn office – which many of us have fond memories of. So, I just want to say thank you for your service, and thank you for making David's service possible.
Also, welcome to David's sisters Kathi and Susan, his brother-in-law Scott, and his Uncle Mike and Aunt Barbara.
David's daughters, Flora and Celina, who are on the screen there, are joining virtually from the Netherlands, where they're in college together – David shared that with me yesterday. He's really proud of them and all the work that they're doing, and that they are together in the Netherlands. I learned, also, that they’ve inherited their dad's taste in music – The Who, Pink Floyd, and Lana Del Rey – and that they both will be soon aspiring to do a similar kind of work that their mother and their father do.
And, welcome, finally, to David's wife, Priscila, who's joining from South Africa. We'll talk more about Priscila later, but she's a scholar and a researcher focused on urban policy.
So, David grew up in Alexandria, Virginia – across the river – and from the beginning, he made friends with everyone. Some will say that if you walk around Alexandria, even today, it's like walking around with the Mayor. And, he shared that he just had his high school reunion – I won't say how many years.
He studied architecture at the University of Virginia, something we don't hear often. And, he moved to DC to work at a construction management firm. It was there that he first picked up running. He finished the Marine Corps Marathon and began a hobby that he would carry across many continents and into many relationships.
In 1996, he moved to Bosnia after the war there ended to help reconstruct homes and schools so that displaced persons could return to their communities. And, he found that although he loved the architecture part of the job, he loved working with community leaders more. And so, he returned to the U.S., and he enrolled in an international development master's program at Duke.
Most of the other students were public administrators or civil servants, but there was one other architect. Luckily, that was Priscila. So, they began to study together. They spent time in groups, and they were soon dating. He spent Christmas that first year with her back home in Brazil, and it was a success. But, upon returning from sunny Brazil, Priscila did find it difficult to adapt to the cold, darkness, and dreariness of the first real winter – today's weather is probably emblematic of that. And, David would encourage her to join him outside for walks and runs in the Duke forest. “One foot after the other,” she remembers him saying. Step by step, they made it through to spring, and they've been together ever since.
So, it's that steadiness – that focus on putting one foot ahead of the other despite whatever is happening – which is what David brings to teams here at USAID, which he joined in 2003. One former colleague described him as “our rock during difficult times.”
In Honduras, he was the director of the democracy office during the military coup in 2009. His team was at the center of efforts to protect the rule of law and rally support for fair and credible elections. A colleague from the time said that “David guided us through critical tasks and tense communications, but more importantly, he was a supportive friend who genuinely cared about our wellbeing. He provided the calm and the smiles we needed to weather the storm.”
In Afghanistan, he again was in a high-stress environment when the compound was under attack. And for 24 hours, he kept his 40-person team calm and confined to a secure building near their office. And, he was very adept at lightening the mood with his trademark humor.
So, when the compound was secure, he went to work again, working with civil society, and he returned to those daily runs, even inviting his colleagues to join him around the embassy perimeter, again, putting one foot in front of the other.
And then, later in Tanzania, he was Deputy Mission Director at a time when the country's new president was less oriented toward partnership with the U.S. So, you led an overhaul of the strategy, defining new goals, and you drew attention to unfair policies like one that placed invasive and discriminatory conditions on girls’ participation at school.
Most recently, you were the Power Africa Coordinator, returning everyone to the office and helping them begin to work with local partners and helping them start awarding [contracts] – in fact, the first local contract – instead of only to big transnational companies.
So, we are very lucky to have David's experience going to South Sudan. We feel like he's very prepared for this important and challenging job. And, we know that South Sudan is challenging. The UN has estimated that nine million people in South Sudan, 73 percent of the population, will need humanitarian assistance in 2024.
To meet this need, USAID has provided more than a half a billion dollars of aid this year. And, we're providing nutrient-dense foods to fight malnutrition. We're helping construct and repair boreholes and wells to improve access to clean water. And, we're funding basic health services while pushing the government to allocate more of its resources to essential services and humanitarian assistance. This is all happening thanks to the great team on the ground, and we look forward to you leading that team to new places.
The staggering level of need is a coincidence of several different factors. First, the climate crisis has made seasonal floods more severe, displacing millions and submerging the farmland. By displacing so many and compounding the challenge of scarce resources, the floods have also exacerbated the violence that often happens between communities. And, even though South Sudan has been at peace since 2018, violence continues in many areas of the country, and the political elites have failed to implement most elements of the peace agreement.
So, the South Sudanese people are anxious and fearful, and they've also had to absorb hundreds of thousands of refugees from neighboring Sudan, which will continue because it's one of our largest humanitarian emergencies in the world today, and only getting worse.
So, we will continue to respond. David will lead us in that response. We will support the South Sudanese people to build a democratic country and mitigate conflict, call for an end to political violence and intimidation, and encourage political rivals to work together.
David, to state the obvious, this is not easy work, but we expect that you are the perfect person to take it on. The team on the ground is eager and ready to welcome you to post – there were many in that room waiting for your arrival. And, I'm sure that they will hear you say, step by step. One foot in front of the other. A little bit at a time. And together, the South Sudanese will realize their vision for a brighter future.
So, with that, please join me for your swearing in, and your mother as well.