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.