Page 15 - WBG July 2025

REPOR T
REPORT
Mid-Term Report from

Executive Director, Bob Heales

Board Members, staff from two other hotels as we arrange a special event for our
Ambassadors. I also want to recognize Philip Ryffel and Joel Michel
I am please to see the attendance here in Portugal has broken previous for each attending a site visit in Chicago to assist with planning.
records for a Midterm Meeting. I hope you enjoy your time here which is
the start of our Centennial celebration leading up to Chicago. Our 2026 Midterm Meeting will be in Morocco in either Casablanca
or Marrakesh. I have one more hotel to visit in Marrakesh after this
The days and hours have been very busy since Malaysia organizing meeting and then the location will be announced.
and preparing for Lisbon and Chicago. In addition I continue to work
closely with our Officers, Administrative Manager, and other members After more visits to France than I ever expected, our 101st Annual
of the Executive Management Team. I continue to respond to members Conference will be in Cannes, France at the Barriere Le Gray D’Albion
questions and needs in a timely manner 365 days per year. In the past Hotel from Sept 1 thru 5, 2026. It is a beautiful hotel in the heart of
few months, the time it takes to do this job has increased significantly. Cannes a block from the beach and next to their sister hotel, The
Majestic where our Gala Dinner will be held.
We are now so close to 1,000 members I can almost taste it. If everyone
sitting at this table could recruit one new member in the next 3 months I Respectfully Submitted,
think we would get there. Every time we get close, we lose a few due to
retirement, death, business failure, and other reasons we don’t always Bob Heales
know.

Our next meeting will be the long-awaited 100th Annual Conference
Centennial Celebration at the Drake Hotel in Chicago. The planning for
the Centennial began over five years ago, but the Chicago planning
began in November 2023 when we first toured Chicago hotels. In short,
we have activities planned with amazing speakers, a 3 hour Casino
Night for our Welcome Reception, A semi-truck display for Truckers
Against Trafficking, our Past President’s Luncheon, our Gala Celebration
in an amazing historic ballroom called Palm Court along with the Duluth
Transit Authority, a well know tribute band for the group Chicago. To cap
it all off we will be having a farewell dinner on the Spirit of Chicago, a
large yacht cruising Lake Michigan. We will be staying at the beautiful
Drake Hotel on Lake Michigan. We have an incredible rate starting at
only $219.

I would especially like to thank President Wes Bearden, Mike LaCorte,
and Chairman Chuck McLaughlin who have assisted me as we have
all work together for countless hours over the last 18 months to make
this event a tremendous success. We have taken 3 planning trips to
Chicago and will be finalizing plans in June as we meet again with
Conference Services, and staff from Audio Visual, a sign company, a
Casino and Poker night team, the crew from the Spirit of Chicago, and

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