093_SR0251

 
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 1                          SENATE RESOLUTION

 2        WHEREAS, The members  of  the  Senate  of  the  State  of
 3    Illinois  were  saddened  to  learn  of  the death of Gail M.
 4    Svendsen of Grayslake on August 30, 2003; and

 5        WHEREAS, Mrs. Svendsen was  born  December  19,  1950  in
 6    Milwaukee,  Wisconsin and lived in the Lake County area since
 7    1978; and

 8        WHEREAS, Mrs. Svendsen was the President and CEO  of  the
 9    Lake  County, Illinois Convention and Visitors Bureau and was
10    instrumental in its incorporation in 1984;  she  has  secured
11    over  $8  million in state grants to promote Lake County as a
12    tourist destination and  worked  closely  with  the  Illinois
13    Bureau  of  Tourism  in  both  its domestic and international
14    marketing; the Lake County Bureau has received several awards
15    from the Governor of Illinois for its advertising; and

16        WHEREAS, Mrs. Svendsen is the Past President  of  Chicago
17    Plus,  a  marketing consortium which promotes the Chicagoland
18    region as a tourist destination and has proven to be  one  of
19    Illinois'  most  successful  regional marketing programs; she
20    was  instrumental  in  the  incorporation  of  Lake  Michigan
21    Corridor Council, which promoted Lake County and the City  of
22    Chicago along the the Lake Michigan shoreline; and

23        WHEREAS,  The Lake County Economic Development Commission
24    invited her, as a representative of Lake County  Tourism,  to
25    participate  in  trade missions to Ferrara, Italy in 1993 and
26    in 1996 to Warrington, England; both trips  resulted  in  the
27    formation of Economic Twinships; and

28        WHEREAS,  Mrs.  Svendsen  is a past member of Lake County
29    Partners/EDC International Business Committee;  and  she  has
30    participated  in  a  variety of trade missions to Europe with
31    The Illinois Bureau of Tourism and Chicago Office of Tourism;
 
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 1    and

 2        WHEREAS,  Mrs.  Svendsen  expanded  the  bureau's  travel
 3    itineraries to include a Technical Agricultural Tour for  the
 4    international/agricultural visitor, as a result she was asked
 5    to  speak at the 1997 North American Farmers Direct Marketing
 6    Conference in Albuquerque; in 1998 addressed  the  Department
 7    of  Agriculture  and  Resource Economics of the University of
 8    Arizona; she served on the Advisory Board of the Lake  County
 9    Forest Preserves Bonner Farm; and

10        WHEREAS, Mrs. Svendsen had conducted an inventory of Lake
11    County's  existing  sporting  facilities,  as  well  as those
12    scheduled to come on  line,  and  in  January  of  2001,  she
13    expanded  the  marketing  efforts  of  the Lake County CVB to
14    include  a  Sports  Marketing  Department;  representing  the
15    Illinois Council of  Convention  and  Visitors  Bureaus,  she
16    served   as   an  advisor  to  Sports  Illinois-a  statewide,
17    volunteer  driven  organization  targeting   event   planners
18    throughout  the  United  States;  she served as a director of
19    Visit   Illinois,   a   statewide   federation   of   tourism
20    professionals; she served on the  Advisory  Council  for  The
21    College  of  Lake  County's newly established Hospitality and
22    Tourism Curriculum, as well as the Advisory  Board  of  North
23    Chicago's High School National Academy of Travel and Tourism;
24    and

25        WHEREAS,  She  had  been  a  member of the Rotary Club of
26    Waukegan for the past 15 years and served as its first female
27    President; she was also a member of the  Gurnee  Rotary  Club
28    and  in  1993, she  participated in a Rotary Peace Conference
29    at the United Nations in New York; she was a director of  the
30    Navy League of the United States, as well as the President of
31    the  Great  Lakes  Naval  Museum Association, Inc. located at
32    Great Lakes Naval Training Center; she was involved in  plans
33    to  build  a new museum dedicated to telling the story of the
 
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 1    sailor; in addition, she was involved with  the  Girl  Scouts
 2    Crossroads Council; and

 3        WHEREAS,  In  1995, she was elected by her peers to serve
 4    as delegate to  the  first-ever  White  House  Conference  on
 5    Tourism  called  by President Clinton; she was a recipient of
 6    the 1999 LUCI Awards for the hospitality  industry  and  also
 7    awarded the 1999 Profiles Award from Lakeland Papers; and

 8        WHEREAS,   She   was  a  member  of  Chicago  Society  of
 9    Association Executives, Sterling's Who's Who, The  Nationwide
10    Register  Who's  Who  in  Executives  and  Business,  and the
11    American Business Women's Association; and

12        WHEREAS, She  is  survived  by  her  husband  Larry;  her
13    children Matthew, Kristen, and Andrew; her mother, Trudy; her
14    sister, Barbara (Mike) Barnes; and her brother, Mike; and

15        WHEREAS,  She was preceded in death by her father, Edward
16    Treder; therefore, be it

17        RESOLVED, BY  THE  SENATE  OF  THE  NINETY-THIRD  GENERAL
18    ASSEMBLY  OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing
19    of Gail M. Svendsen along with all who knew and loved her and
20    extend our sincere condolences to her family and friends; and
21    be it further

22        RESOLVED, That a suitable  copy  of  this  resolution  be
23    presented  to the family of Gail M. Svendsen as an expression
24    of our deepest sympathy.