Meeting Report from July 31, 2001

Meeting

Rotary Wheel

Report

July 31, 2001
By MARY-STUART BROOKS

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     President Jim Woodward called to order the Rotary Club of Charlotte and announced that his granddaughter is celebrating her fifth birthday. Gene Bratek introduced eleven guests and five visiting Rotarians. Ed Ellis expressed his gratitude for being released from the Music Committee and offered several attempts at humor as a preface to his Health and Happiness Report.
     After standing for the Pledge of Allegiance, Club members sang "Deep in the Heart of Ro-t'ry" under the direction of Chuck Lineberry. Carroll Thomas assisted in leading the singing for Chuck, whose vocal cords are recovering from recent surgery. We were grateful for the piano accompaniment provided by Anthony Heath, in the absence of Thomas Moore, and for the invocation offered by Bob Young.
     Don Steger introduced our newest Club member, Dr. Charles Ambrose, president of Pfeiffer University. President Jim introduced the members seated at the head table: Biff Virkler, Bijoy Sahoo, Bob Young, Russell Ranson, Cynthia Marshall, and Marilynn Bowler.
     Marilynn introduced our speaker, Greg Panos, whom she described as a gentleman, hotel business guru, and true entrepreneur. Greg formed the Panos Hotel Group in 1986 after working for a hotel financing company and seeing the need in the Charlotte market for a high level of hotel service for both business travelers and vacationers. He has earned a reputation for excellence and was named "Entrepreneur of the Year" by the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce and dubbed "Mr. Hospitality" by the Greater Charlotte Biz magazine. He has served on the Boards of Directors of the Charlotte Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Charlotte Chamber Advisory Boards, the Hospitality and Tourism Alliance, and the N.C. Hotel/ Motel Association.
     Greg's topic for the day was tourism and the need for Charlotte to create a Travel Development Authority to promote and manage tourism in the Charlotte region. Attending the meeting with him were Mohammed Jenitien and Andy Phillips, who work with him. Despite the reception he noted to Ed Ellis's jokes, Greg began his presentation by telling a story of a man stranded on a desert island for ten years ... a story which some of the male members of the Club may have found amusing.
     Greg defined a tourist as someone who stays overnight in our community, as opposed to someone who comes to Charlotte to attend a sports or cultural event and then goes home the same day. He said that Charlotte is the #1 tourist destination in North Carolina and identified shopping as the #\ activity of tourists in Charlotte. Tourists spending the night in Charlotte spend an average of $70 per day in addition to the cost of their accommodations. With 26,000 hotel/motel rooms currently in the Charlotte market, 6,000 of which are new within the last 6 years and 14,048 of which are owned by the Panos Group, Charlotte finally has enough rooms to accommodate BOTH a NASCAR race and a major convention.
     The economic impact of tourism is significant and must be nurtured in Charlotte for us to be able to compete with other major cities in attracting visitors and conventions. Greg said that we must change the way we think about tourism in Charlotte and must create a new business model for tourism. He advocates creating a Travel Development Authority to remove the politics and emotion by forming a single professional entity to treat tourism as a business. By consolidating the functions of marketing, operations and finance, now managed by three different community entities, a professionally managed tourism authority could become a self-contained, semi-private business, and would be much more effective in promoting and nurturing tourism.
     As an example of the need for such a professionally managed tourism entity, Greg said that Charlotte has more live entertainment than Austin, Texas, but that we don't publicize or market it well enough to attract visitors to Charlotte as a cultural destination. We need to find ways to entice convention goers to stay in Charlotte a few days before or after their convention to enjoy what our city has to offer them as tourists, vacationers, and shoppers. We also need to find additional revenue sources, including support or tax rebates from the state in return for the additional taxes we generate from tourism (including approximately $30 million in occupancy and prepared food taxes).
     After Greg answered several questions, President Jim gave him a Rotary memento as a tangible thanks for his presentation.
     Before adjourning the meeting. President Jim welcomed Doug Glasgow back from a long absence due to hip problems and recognized and congratulated Eric Smith on his fifth anniversary as superintendent of Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools.

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New Member

CAROL WALKER JORDAN

CAROL WALKER JORDAN

2001

Libraries, Academic

Queens College
1900 Selwyn Avenue (28274)
704-337-2400
FAX 704-3 37-2517
email: jordanc@queens.edu

     Carol Walker Jordan was born and raised in Kings Mountain, North Carolina. She attended UNCC, receiving a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and a Master's degree in Education with a concentration in Counseling. She completed a practicum at Queens College which led to the establishment of the New Dimensions Program, a liberal arts degree program for adult women. Later she was instrumental in establishing the Women's Career Center at Central Piedmont Community College. She served on the Mecklenburg County Women's Commission and was elected Chair of Blueprint Charlotte, an umbrella organization for women's educational and counseling programs. Later she was a Research Fellow at the Kennedy School at Harvard. Upon returning to Charlotte, she accepted a position at Davidson College as Assistant Director of Career Services, later becoming the Director for twelve years.
     In 1997, Carol was recruited by Queens College to establish an academic intern-ship program, which became nationally recognized. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Reaffirmation Team recently awarded a commendation to the program.
     Carol recently completed her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policies as well as her Masters in Library and Information Science at the University of South Carolina. This past year Queens gave her the additional duty of Interim Library Director. In April she was named fulltime Library Director and will relinquish her work with the internship program.
     Carol and her husband David have three grown children—Nicholas, Jocelyn, and Gideon. She loves Opera Carolina, the Charlotte Repertory Theatre, the Mint Museum and St. Peter's Episcopal Church. They support the arts in Charlotte and enjoy weekend trips to Washington, DC, Boston, New York, and Chicago to visit museums, cathedrals, libraries and theatres.
     We welcome Carol to Charlotte Rotary.

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POWELL'S
OBSERVATIONS

POWELL MAJORS

POWELL MAJORS

     Phil Van Hoy commented on Rep. Gary Condit's relationship with the missing Chandra Levy in a letter to the editor of the "Observer."
     Byron Bullard suggests that the ABC store charge 6% sales tax in a letter to the editor of the "Observer."
     Tony Zeiss is chair of the Chamber of Commerce committee to create a green-way along Little Sugar Creek. It is planned to stretch from the edge of uptown to the South Carolina border — a distance of twelve miles.
     Jeannie Falknor, Mike Hawley and Ed Kizer are members of the board of directors of the Charlotte World Affairs Council. Billy Wireman is immediate past chair.
     Mary Mack endorsed the First Union merger with Wachovia in a letter published as an advertisement in the "Observer."
     Sam Woodard has been elected to the UNC-Chapel Hill 2005 Board of Visitors class.
     John Tabor is considering a run for the city council.

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