Beyond the Boardroom: Visit Champaign County's Jayne DeLuce
Sep. 4—Mom lived a life of faith, service and compassion, volunteering and advocating for causes like mental illness, inspired by the memory of her brother.
Dad lived the life every diehard Illini fan wished they did, getting to travel with the teams, sit courtside at the Final Four and call many of the biggest shots in program history.
As professional role models go, no one will ever top Jim and Louise Turpin in JAYNE (TURPIN) DeLUCE's book — "for the life lessons they taught me about meeting people where they are, loving your community and showing gratitude for the simple joys in life," she says.
Her father's work in radio brought her to Champaign from Springfield — one year shy of high school graduation — and she wound up making a home here, earning two degrees from the University of Illinois, raising two daughters with 27-year husband Joe and becoming one of the area's top ambassadors as the going-on-13-year president and CEO of Visit Champaign County.
In between work and walks (more on that in a bit), DeLuce took time out to answer questions from in the 144th installment of our weekly speed read spotlighting leaders of organizations big and small.
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My single favorite moment of all-time in this job was ... during Toast to Tourism 2018, when everyone gave a standing ovation for Lester Lindsey of Original Pancake House, when he received his Tourism Impact Award.
Knowing his story, there was barely a dry eye in the house. We call it the "Lester Factor" from that moment on — understanding the power of an individual to positively impact others in simple ways.
My one unbreakable rule of the workplace is ... you never know what a person may be dealing with at any given moment, so be kind and respectful, even when you may disagree.
The three adjectives I hope my staff would use to describe me are ... compassionate, authentic and generous.
My philosophy on meetings is ... ideally, they provide team members with an opportunity to discuss thoughts and ideas in a comfortable and collaborative environment. Sometimes, just necessary to have a checkpoint. Try to keep to an hour or less.
I can't live without my ... tea moments, whether it's hot tea or iced tea.
On my office walls, you'll find ... pictures of my family, then an open bookcase with framed pics and mementos of past events over the years.
I'm frugal in that ... I use the same tea bag for two to three cups of hot tea.
If I could trade places for a week with any other person in town, I wouldn't mind switching with ... Barry Houser. As the director of the Marching Illini and Fighting Illini Athletic Bands, he is the utmost community ambassador, enjoys what he does and has a front-row seat for some intense Illini games.
The bonus, though, would be the week either when he leads the group to Dublin, Ireland to march in the St. Patrick's Day Parade or to New York City for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
I wind down after work by ... walking, gardening or just watching the sunset from our back yard.
The last luxury in which I indulged was ... visiting Italy, Spain and France earlier this spring. Joe, Jenna and I met Jordan there at the end of Jordan's internship to live like a local in Florence, Rome and Venice, Italy.
Then we traveled to Marbella, Spain before spending a couple days in Paris, France. While our trip was cut short before going to London, England and Dublin, Ireland, we truly had an amazing time. And we hope to go back to finish the trip sometime in the next year.
The most beneficial college class I took was ... RST (Recreation, Sport & Tourism) 284, a required UI 16-week internship to graduate.
Recommended by my trusted mentor, Joe Bannon Sr., I worked in every area of the MWR (Morale, Welfare, Recreation) Department on a U.S. Navy nuclear submarine base in Holy Loch, Scotland.
I learned that you do what it takes to get the job done, although my favorite area was definitely their travel department, which provided some great adventures.
I'm up and at 'em every day by ... 7 a.m. We are night owls, so mornings come fast.
My exercise routine consists of ... walking three to four miles every day the last 912 days — started with the pandemic — plus tennis one to two times a week, gardening and a goal to just stay active.
The worst job I ever had was ... corn detasseling, followed by Hot Dog on a Stick. I learned about heat, sun and bugs, then hot oil and long hours in the fast food industry.
Both taught me a lot about perseverance, and you can learn valuable lessons in any job setting.
On a 1-to-10 scale, the impact of the pandemic has been a ... 10. The travel industry stopped, and our organizational priorities shifted toward solely serving residents.
We faced the challenges impacting our area businesses in a collaborative manner with community leaders, which still happens today.
We're still focusing on residents first, as any visitor may be a potential resident in the future.
