Phil Taillon leaves city of Hammond to lead tourism organization
When the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority named Phil Taillon its new president and CEO in May, it picked a proven leader. Taillon has a 15-year track record working in economic development for the city of Hammond.
Now Taillon has an opportunity to apply his talents to growing Lake County’s flourishing $1.25 billion tourism industry.
He first applied for the position in 2022, only to find himself the runner-up to former Crown Point Mayor David Uran, who resigned the tourism position at the end of last year.
“The first time around, there were about 150 applicants. It was the first job I applied for in 25 years,” Taillon said. “The last time I applied for a job was back in 1998 when I applied to work for Bank Calumet.”
After seven interviews, it came down to Taillon and Uran.
“It hurt at the time because I had myself all excited about the new opportunity for the role,” Taillon said.
But when the opportunity again presented itself, “I kind of knew right away I was going to apply for it again,” he said, “especially since in the last process I ended up taking second.”
Taillon remembered that, when he and Uran emerged as the finalists, one newspaper article said the bureau would have hit a home run with either candidate.
Taillon is now ready to step up to the plate and swing for the fences. But he would like to see a couple more baserunners — at the moment, he said, the bureau has a runner on second.
The sports analogy is apropos for the Chicago Cubs fan — by the way, he is no relation to Cubs pitcher Jameson Taillon. The Region has seen a blossoming of sports tourism in the past 10 years, with sports complexes, community centers and outdoor facilities springing up. There is also the 10U Cal Ripken World Series in Crown Point, which draws participants from Panama, Germany, Australia, Mexico and the Czech Republic.
Yet Taillon said he is aiming for a broad spectrum of attractions.
“I really want to make sure that we are as diversified as possible when it comes to tourism,” he said. “I don’t want to put all of our eggs in any one basket. I want to grow any and all sectors that are out there that can help Lake County be successful. So there certainly is a lot more opportunity out there.”
He points to the strength of the casino tourism and ecotourism sectors, Indiana Dunes providing an example of the latter.
That means a lot of hard work ahead. But Taillon is no stranger to that. Taillon, who grew up in Hammond and has spent 45 of his 51 years there, is the son of a steelworker — his father worked for Inland Steel. It was a blue-collar family with strong Midwestern values.
He attended St. Catherine of Siena School, which closed in 2009, and Bishop Noll Institute, both Hammond schools, before earning a bachelor’s degree in management from what is now Purdue Northwest.
His work ethic was honed by his experience working his way through school.
“I just think it’s made me a stronger person in the long run, to know how hard you have to work to be successful,” he said.
One of those jobs was working at St. Margaret Hospital, partially in the medical records department and in the surgery department. Among his tasks was washing the instruments after surgeries. The hospital has since closed.
He discovered his niche when he enrolled in a manager training program at Bank Calumet after his graduation in 1997. He spent 10 years with the bank, which was acquired by First Midwest Bank in 2006.
Taillon said a banking background was critical — he learned about business and what’s important to business success, as well as how to read a business plan and understand a budget.
While managing the Hessville neighborhood office of Bank Calumet, he became president of the Hessville Business Association, now known as the Hessville Commerce and Community Creative, and established a working relationship with Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr.
The city of Hammond hired him in 2008, becoming executive director of planning and development and eventually McDermott’s chief of staff.
“Phil is always bringing people together to do things. That’s why this job is so perfect for him,” McDermott said about Taillon’s new job. “It is like a natural for him.”
Among the highlights of his tenure in Hammond was spearheading the Oxbow Landing development, which put him on the economic development map.
“We used probably six or seven funding sources to acquire the property, demo the buildings, create the new road that we put in there, create the parcels,” he said. “And then I had to slowly start building relationships to kind of draw businesses in and tell them that this is a spot they wanted to be in.”
The result was $65 million of investment leading to three hotels, three office buildings and three restaurants.
Slowly he built on that success, including the redevelopment of the Woodmar Mall, which held a personal significance.
“It was the community gathering space for a lot of us as we were growing up,” he said. “And so, we wanted to be careful in repurposing it.”
McDermott has high praise for Taillon’s work with Hammond, especially with diversifying the city’s portfolio beyond gaming.
“One of the things that we have done as an administration was bring in a billion dollars of new assessed value to the city of Hammond, since I’ve been mayor,” McDermott said. “Phil was a large part of that, and that’s paying off huge right now for us.”
He said Horseshoe Casino Hammond’s revenues are down since the Hard Rock Casino in Gary opened in May 2021.
“If we hadn’t been bringing in this independent money through a billion dollars of new assessed value, Hammond would be in a real financial pinch right now,” McDermott said.
In his new role, Taillon said he is looking forward to having a positive impact not only in Hammond but in all of Lake County. After all, the more money tourism brings in, the less of a tax burden on residents for government services.
Taillon said his transition has been made easier by a staff that brings a wealth of institutional knowledge.
“We will treat every city and town as important as any other, no matter what their size is,” he said.
He said his organization plans to play an active role in the new Lake County Convention Center, which promises to bring in $60 million in revenue to Lake County.
“To me, tourism is all about energy and creativity and understanding people. It’s fun.”
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