Ask Lorelei Weimer what her accomplishments are as longtime chief of Indiana Dunes Tourism and she is going to present a 16-point e-mail, in no specific order, of what she’s most pleased with.

They embody the development of the joint customer middle on Indiana 49, a venture with Indiana Dunes Nationwide Park for a constructing owned by the Porter County Board of Commissioners; creating the three Dune Problem at Indiana Dunes State Park, which spawned eight different challenges in Indiana state parks; and aiding the Nationwide Park Conservation Affiliation to safe funding to battle seaside erosion in Portage.

“It’s been 33 years and it’s sort of time, time to take a pause,” she stated Friday. “I’m 56 and I’ve been right here since I used to be an intern.”

Weimer’s pause started Friday, when Christine Livingston, vice chairman of IDT, took over because the company’s interim president and CEO as Weimer makes use of up 9 weeks of trip time earlier than starting what she calls her subsequent journey, as of but undetermined.

The tourism board formalized the transition at a gathering Thursday, in accordance with Mitch Peters, the board’s president.

“Lorelei is stepping down to take a look at her choices and alternate options,” Peters stated, including that Weimer has led the company for 22 years. “We owe a substantial amount of gratitude for every little thing she’s completed for each the county and the group.”

The change, stated Peters and Livingston, comes at a time of transition for the bureau. IDT is within the means of taking up the reward store on the customer middle from Japanese Nationwide, a vendor for nationwide parks throughout the nation.

Moreover, Sandy Remijas, the company’s senior operations director, resigned in mid-November, permitting for a employees reorganization.

“It’s a little bit little bit of a reset for us due to the employees modifications which have taken place and due to the reward store,” stated Livingston, who has been with the group simply over 14 years and its vice chairman for 12 years.

The company is hiring a retail supervisor and ordering inventory for the reward store, she stated, and the retail supervisor additionally will oversee bike leases, a service provided on the park for the previous a number of years and brought over by the bureau a pair years in the past when the seller stepped again.

“We’re working to be environment friendly and maximize our talent set,” Livingston stated.

The subsequent order of enterprise will likely be a strategic plan encompassing the employees reorganization and the extra duties of operating the reward store. Income from the reward store will now return to IDT, which Weimer stated will enable the funds to be invested again into the customer middle to keep up the reveals.

Weimer, Livingston stated, has been an important mentor, notably given her huge data. Livingston has her personal imaginative and prescient of work with the board to maneuver ahead.

“We’re placing some actual thought into how we meet our wants,” she stated.

Tourism has gone from “heads in beds,” a reference to resort occupancy charges, “to actually high quality of place, high quality of place and sustainability.”

With the park’s bump up in standing from a nationwide lakeshore to a nationwide park in February 2019, sustainability has taken on a brand new focus due to elevated guests and curiosity within the park and Livingston is cautious of what she referred to as “over use.”

“Now that we’re a nationwide park, we’re on the fringe of that,” she stated, including she’s working with a number of companions, together with the Nationwide Park Service, the Shirley Heinze Land Belief, the Northwest Indiana Discussion board and the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District, amongst others, to speak about sustainability in the neighborhood and the surroundings.

“It’s not simply getting extra folks right here, however the expertise they’ve,” and that of the group, she added, noting that sustainability is one thing each she and Weimer are keen about.

IDT’s most up-to-date accomplishment is establishing the Indiana Dunes Indigenous Cultural Path, which begins outdoors the customer middle. The venture took six years and its first part was devoted in late September.

Livingston was the lead on the venture.

“It’s undoubtedly one of many extra rewarding tasks I’ve labored on in my profession,” she stated. “It was a niche in our area.”

The trail ahead to a brand new president and CEO isn’t instantly clear, although Livingston stated she has expressed curiosity in taking up the job completely. For the reason that management transition was simply introduced, she doesn’t but know what that timeline or course of will seem like.

“I’ve received an important relationship with our board and an important relationship with our employees. They’re seasoned. They’re execs,” she stated.

Weimer stated what she is going to miss most from her time with IDT is working with like-minded group leaders who need what’s greatest for the realm, in addition to Porter County’s 9 cities, cities and unincorporated areas, every of which have distinctive personalities that make them particular, and the numerous partnerships she’s made through the years.

She is evaluating her future plans.

“It’s sort of thrilling realizing what the brand new journey will likely be,” she stated.

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