[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 28 (Tuesday, February 23, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E258-E259]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  HONORING MR. JACK VAUGHN, CHAIRMAN, OPRYLAND LODGING GROUP, FOR HIS 
                         VISION AND LEADERSHIP

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BOB CLEMENT

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 23, 1999

  Mr. CLEMENT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Mr. Jack Vaughn, 
Chairman, Opryland Lodging Group of Nashville, Tennessee, for his 
vision and leadership in creating the internationally renowned Opryland 
Hotel and his outstanding community service.
  Mr. Vaughn will officially retire from his duties at the Opryland 
Hotel this month but plans to continue working in a part-time capacity 
for the next two years. After a lengthy career in the hotel business 
which began at the Westin Benson Hotel in Portland, Oregon, in 1959, 
Jack Vaughn joined the Opryland Hotel Group as General Manager in 1975, 
before construction on the original 600 room Opryland Hotel had even 
begun. Now in his 24th year with the company, Jack has risen to 
Chairman of the Opryland Lodging Group.
  Today, Jack Vaughn's beloved Opryland Hotel boasts 2,883 rooms and 
600,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space, making it the largest 
hotel and convention center under one roof. His promotion of convention 
space inside of hotels earned him a spot in the Convention Liaison 
Council's Hall of Leaders in 1988. The Opryland Hotel is one of the 
most successful in the world, and generated revenues in excess of 225 
million in 1997.
  Jack Vaughn's peers have recognized him many times. In 1990, Hotels 
Magazine named him ``Independent Hotelier of the World,'' and later 
that year he was named ``Resort Executive of the Year.'' These numerous 
awards also include the Arthur Landstreet Award from the Educational 
Institute, and the Lawson Odde Award from the American Hotel and Motel 
Association.
  Mr. Vaughn's achievements extend into the community through his 
involvement in a number of civic organizations. In 1995, he was awarded 
the American Heart Association's Heart of the Community Award. He is a 
past president of the Middle Tennessee Council of the Boy Scouts of 
America, a board member for the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, an 
executive committee member of the Nashville Rotary Club, past chairman 
of the Metropolitan Convention Center Commission, and

[[Page E259]]

previously served as president, chairman, and director of the Tennessee 
Hotel and Motel Association. He has also served the Legal Aid Society 
of Nashville, the Easter Seals Society of Tennessee, the YMCA Black 
Achievers Program, the Tennessee Police Athletic League, the Nashville 
Chapter of the American Cancer Society, the United Way of Tennessee, 
and other organizations.
  On the national level, Mr. Vaughn is a member of the Congressional 
Travel and Tourism Caucus Advisory Council and a past member of the 
White House Conference on Travel and Tourism Issues Task Force, serving 
in 1995.
  Jack Vaughn is a community leader and a personal friend whose 
leadership and selfless contributions have greatly benefited residents 
of the Fifth Congressional District of Tennessee. I wish him much 
success in the years ahead and the very best in his retirement.

                          ____________________