After Cort Carlson graduated from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, he settled in Elgin, Illinois, near his hometown of Carpentersville in Chicago’s northern suburbs. While there, he read an article in the Elgin Daily Courier News about the city getting a riverboat casino downtown on the Fox River and the likely increase in tourism traffic that would come from it. The article mentioned the Elgin Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, and, Carlson notes, “I did not know that the convention and visitors bureau existed [before I read that]. But I was fresh out of college, looking for a job. So, I blindly sent them a resume and cover letter saying, basically, ‘Hey, [the riverboat casino] is going to [be a big deal] for Elgin tourism. You are probably going to need more staffing. And if there is an opening for a marketing or public relations position, I am interested.’ And, sure enough, they hired me.”
For Carlson, who today is the executive director of the Aurora Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, a career was born from that initial foothold in Elgin. After subsequent stints around the state at the Lake County, Illinois Convention & Visitors Bureau in Gurnee and in retail marketing, he joined the fledgling McHenry County Convention & Visitors Bureau in Woodstock, Illinois. He says, “McHenry County was a brand-new bureau. I was the first hired staff and executive director, so I built the bureau [from the ground up]. I was there for seven years, and it went from nothing to a well-established, certified, grant-funded Illinois convention and visitors bureau. Building that bureau from scratch was really satisfying.”
Some 11 years ago, Carlson accepted the top job at the Aurora Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, which represents 12 suburbs. He heads up a team of five full-time employees. Carlson says, “We are a pretty small convention and visitors bureau, but we work hard and get a lot done. We’re aggressive and good at what we do, I think. We are small, but mighty.”
Carlson is most excited about the June opening of the 226-room Hollywood Casino Aurora, which, along with The Herrington
Inn & Spa in nearby Geneva, raises the area’s meetings profile. He says, “We are creating the branding now [to position the area] as a regional meetings destination. We will become a big player, and the casino hotel and the Herrington Inn will allow us to do that, which is very cool.”
