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1 <br /> ORANGE COUNTY <br /> BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br /> Meeting Date: May 3, 2022 <br /> Action Agenda <br /> Item No. 6-b <br /> SUBJECT: Consideration of a Resolution Naming the Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors <br /> Center Conference Room as The Lee Pavao Conference Room <br /> DEPARTMENT: County Manager <br /> ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: <br /> 1) Orange County Property Naming Bonnie Hammersley, 919-245-2300 <br /> Policy <br /> 2) Resolution <br /> 3) Photographs of Conference Room <br /> and Lee Pavao <br /> PURPOSE: To consider a resolution naming the conference room at the new Orange <br /> County Visitors Center, located at 308 W. Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, as "The Lee <br /> Pavao Conference Room". <br /> BACKGROUND: Lee Pavao served for eight years as an elected official on the Chapel <br /> Hill Town Council, including two years as Mayor Pro-Tem. Mr. Pavao worked closely with <br /> Orange County leaders and the Board of County Commissioners, as well as the Visitors <br /> Bureau staff and hospitality industry leaders. Mr. Pavao spent his career in advertising <br /> and lent his expertise to area marketing, sales and tourism campaigns to increase tourism <br /> in Orange County and in order to support economic development and increased <br /> occupancy and sales tax revenues. <br /> Lee Pavao joined J. Walter Thompson Company (JWT) in New York, but was soon after <br /> drafted into the U.S. Army (1956-1958). Pavao returned to JWT New York (1958-1963) <br /> before being reassigned to a number of JWT's European offices (Amsterdam 1963-1965, <br /> Madrid 1967-1969) before returning to New York. Pavao spent the rest of his career in <br /> various JWT offices in Latin America (primarily Sao Paulo and Lima) before being named <br /> President and CEO of JWT Brazil in 1980, eventually assuming responsibility for JWT <br /> operations across Latin America. Lee and his wife Joan retired to Chapel Hill in 1988, and <br /> Joan passed away in 1990. Mr. Pavao threw himself into a second career as a community <br /> volunteer, town leader, advocate for tourism development, senior citizens and <br /> grandfather. <br /> The J. Walter Thompson Company, Lee Pavao papers, were received by the David M. <br /> Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library at Duke University as a gift in 2019. <br /> https://archives.Iib.duke.edu/catalog/owtpavaolee <br />