Ann Pilisy
Ann started working at Kendal at Oberlin in September 1993, two weeks before Kendal opened, in the Dining and Nutrition Department. She has managed the Langston Express and the Fox and Fell Dining Rooms and the Catering Services for Kendal.
Among other things, Ann is responsible for hiring, training, and supervising our wait staff, including the many students who bring their youth and exuberance to the dining areas. She emphasizes the importance of training, particularly for the young employees, since for many of them this is their first work experience.
As a prototypical “people person,” Ann is one of those incredible leaders who respond not only to residents’ needs and requests but to those of her team members as well. She has stayed in touch with many former employees, and makes everyone feel welcome and special. She even keeps scrapbooks of Kendal celebrations and staff graduations over the years, and often organizes “reunions” of former employees. It seems she never stops moving.
She and husband Bill Miller lived in the Cleveland area during her early years at Kendal, but they love Oberlin so much that they moved here in 2004 to take advantage of the community’s rich array of offerings in music and the other arts. She is her neighborhood’s elected precinct member, and gets very involved both in ballot issues and in political campaigns.
Even though Ann's workdays can be long, it doesn't stop her from enjoying traveling and exploring when she gets time off. She and Bill also enjoy snorkeling and bird watching, and don't even get her started on sports... or perhaps it would be more accurate to say watching and attending sporting events. She makes a great cheering section for them, as well as for Kendal.
Ann’s favorite thing is being able to connect with residents and their families. They, like the staff, become her extended family. She would point out to anyone coming to work here that Kendal has been a really good place for her and should be for others as well.
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