Historic Hotels of America® Presents Chuck Franz, CEO, French Lick Resort with the 2026 Historic Hotels of America® Lifetime Achievement Award

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 4, 2026--

Historic Hotels of America® is pleased to announce that it honored Chuck Franz, CEO, French Lick Resort, as the recipient of its prestigious 2026 Historic Hotels of America® Lifetime Achievement Award last month.

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Historic Hotels of America is the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation for recognizing and celebrating the finest Historic Hotels in the United States of America. The program honors the nation’s finest historic hotels, hoteliers, and historians through the Historic Hotels Annual Awards of Excellence.

This year, the 2026 Historic Hotels of America Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes the extensive accomplishments of Chuck Franz, a trusted associate of Cook Group Founder Bill Cook and the Cook Family. Chuck Franz was instrumental in the rescue and restoration of two of America’s greatest historic hotels that make up French Lick Resort: the French Lick Springs Hotel and the West Baden Springs Hotel. Under Chuck Franz’s leadership, French Lick Resort has expanded its convention business, championship golf, gaming, dining, spa, and recreation offerings while maintaining an unwavering commitment to historic preservation, exceptional guest experiences, and long-term stewardship.

The 2026 Historic Hotels of America Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Chuck Franz at the Historic Hotels Awards of Excellence Ceremony and Gala during the 2026 Historic Hotels Annual Conference at the Williamsburg Lodge, Autograph Collection in Williamsburg, Virginia, on October 15, 2026. Attending the event were the owners, general managers, and other senior decision makers representing many of the finest historic hotels from across the United States of America and from around the world.

Chuck Franz is a respected Indiana business leader whose career reflects decades of achievement in operations, executive leadership, and trusted service to one of the world’s most influential privately held medical device companies. An Indiana University alumnus, 1981 National Champion Basketball player and longtime Cook Group executive, Franz has built a distinguished professional legacy as a key contributor who helped advance the organization while supporting the passions and enduring vision of Bill and Gayle Cook. From 1984 until 2014, Franz served various key roles across the Cook Corporation supporting the mission to help patients worldwide with minimally invasive solutions to their medical needs. He brought practical business judgment and decision-making needed for a global company serving thousands of patients a year.

He also became a trusted advisor to Bill and Gayle Cook, supporting their business endeavors, preservation efforts, and major projects with quiet effectiveness. Whether asked to expand an operation, fix a difficult problem, consult on a major initiative, or represent the company around the world, Franz approached each assignment with the same combination of discipline, discretion, and service.

Because of his understanding of complex projects and his ability to coordinate people, resources, and long-term strategy, Franz was asked in 2014 to take full-time leadership of the 3,000-acre French Lick Resort, Cook’s largest ever investment. Under his leadership, the resort has continued to exceed expectations and projections while maintaining the Cook family’s commitment to restoration, hospitality, and community impact. His work has included organizing and coordinating major projects, initiatives and expansion which includes, funding and organizing the construction of multiple workforce housing neighborhoods, the Valley Tower wing addition of more than 70 rooms, the restoration of the historic West Baden Billiards and Bowling Pavilion and most recently the addition of new cottages and golf course construction.

Franz’s leadership style reflects the values of service and community responsibility. Shaped by his upbringing in small-town Clarksville, Indiana, and strengthened by his work in communities across the United States and around the world, he understands the importance of creating opportunity where it is needed most. That perspective has made him an ideal leader to help guide the continued growth of French Lick and West Baden, Indiana. Through job creation, thoughtful stewardship, and continued support of the Cook family’s vision, Franz has helped strengthen communities that were once among Indiana’s most economically challenged, carrying forward a legacy rooted in stability and lasting impact.

“Historic Hotels of America is pleased to recognize Mr. Franz with this award, which is reserved for individuals whose careers have made an enduring impact on the preservation and advancement of historic hotels,” said Lawrence Horwitz, Executive Vice President, Historic Hotels of America and Historic Hotels Worldwide. “Under his leadership, French Lick Resort stands as one of Indiana’s leading tourism destinations and economic engines, welcoming visitors from around the world while demonstrating that historic preservation and business success can thrive together. His contributions have strengthened not only French Lick Resort and its two historic hotels, West Baden Springs Hotel designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, and French Lick Springs Hotel, but also the broader appreciation of America’s historic hotels as irreplaceable cultural, architectural, and economic assets.”

“I am deeply honored and humbled to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from Historic Hotels of America. This recognition reflects the dedication of the entire French Lick Resort team and the vision of those who made the preservation and restorations of this remarkable property possible, it has been a privilege to help protect the Resort's rich history while preparing it for future generations. I am grateful to Historic Hotels of America for this extraordinary honor and proud to share it with everyone who has contributed to the continued success of French Lick Resort.”

About Historic Hotels of America®

Historic Hotels of America® is the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation for recognizing and celebrating the finest historic hotels across America. The National Trust for Historic Preservation was chartered by U.S. Congress in 1949 and is a private 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. The National Trust for Historic Preservation is leading the movement to save places where our history happened. To be nominated and selected for membership in this prestigious program, a hotel must be at least 50 years old; designated by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior as a National Historic Landmark, or listed in or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places; and recognized as having historical significance. Of the more than 300 historic hotels inducted into Historic Hotels of America from 46 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, all historic hotels faithfully preserve their sense of authenticity, sense of place, and architectural integrity.

French Lick Resort offers professionals and amateur golfers several world-class golf courses to choose from, including championship courses designed by Hall of Fame course designer Pete Dye in 2009 (pictured) and another by the legendary course architect Donald Ross in 1917.

Lobby at French Lick Springs Hotel (1845) in French Lick, Indiana. Part of French Lick Resort.

French Lick Springs Hotel (1845) in French Lick, Indiana. Part of French Lick Resort.

The atrium of West Baden Springs Hotel (1901) in West Baden Springs, Indiana. Part of French Lick Resort.

Chuck Franz (left) received the 2026 Historic Hotels of America Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by Lawrence Horwitz (right) of Historic Hotels of America, on October 15, 2026.

WASHINGTON (AP) — At the urging of President Donald Trump, Republicans in eight states redrew the boundaries of dozens of congressional districts over the past year while angling for an edge that could help them hold onto a slim House majority in a tough midterm election.

Ultimately, it didn't work.

Republicans lost most of the Democratic-held seats they had targeted to flip, lost others they had banked on retaining and got swept out of power by a Democratic surge fueled by voter dissatisfaction with Trump, the economy and the war with Iran.

The Republican redistricting plan fell flat in Alabama, Florida and Texas. It got scuttled by courts in Missouri and then firmly defeated by its voters Tuesday. And it got offset in California, where a retaliatory Democratic redistricting flipped all five of the Republican-held seats it targeted.

“This is a catastrophic rebuke of Donald Trump’s failed effort to gerrymander the country into oblivion to save the U.S. House of Representatives for himself," John Bisognano, president of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, said Wednesday.

Congressional voting districts typically are redrawn after a census at the start of each decade to account for population changes. But Trump spurred an unusual mid-decade redistricting battle last year when he urged Texas Republicans to reshape U.S. House districts to give the GOP a shot at winning five additional seats in the midterm election.

A cascade of redistricting followed, spurred along in the South by a Supreme Court ruling that weakened federal Voting Rights Act protections for majority Black districts. Republicans hoped their redistricting could net as many as four more seats in Florida, two in Ohio and one each in Alabama, Louisiana, North Carolina and Tennessee.

In all but one of those revamped districts, Trump would have carried over 54% of the vote had they been in place for the 2024 election, according to Associated Press estimates.

“In normal times, that sort of district is relatively safe,” said Justin Levitt, a professor at the Loyola Law School in Los Angeles who runs the “All About Redistricting” website.

But the presumed Republican districts got undercut by shifting viewpoints of Trump. The AP Voter Poll found about 6 in 10 disapprove of how Trump is handling the presidency. Views of Trump’s priorities also were mostly negative.

“If we look across the country, that entire mid-decade redistricting gambit was a complete bust for Republicans,” said Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University in Houston.

In Texas, Republicans reconfigured three heavily Latino districts in the Rio Grande Valley, which had shifted toward Trump in 2024, to try to boost their chances of unseating Democratic Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez. But both won reelection Tuesday. And Democrats instead unseated Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz, whose district is sandwiched between theirs.

Though De La Cruz's new district retained the same percentage of Trump-inclined voters as the 2024 version, about 3 in 5 voting-age residents were new — making it harder for her to compete against Democratic challenger Bobby Pulido, a well-known Latin Grammy award winner.

The AP Voter Poll indicates a substantial shift in Hispanics moving away from Republicans compared with Trump’s victory just two years ago. Nationally about one-third of Hispanics say they backed the Republican in their local U.S. House race, while roughly 4 in 10 voted for Trump two years ago.

The new Texas districts were drawn by Adam Kincaid, executive director of the National Republican Redistricting Trust.

“Trying to pick up five seats in Texas, without putting anything else in serious jeopardy, it was a Herculean task,” Kincaid said Wednesday. He added: “It required the trends that we had been seeing over the past several years to continue, and that did not happen.”

Had Republicans not redrawn the Texas districts, however, they likely would have lost even more seats, Kincaid said.

Republicans in Florida tried to tilt four more House seats to the GOP in Trump’s adopted home state. Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz was among their targets, but he decided to run anyway in one of the redrawn districts. He won reelection Tuesday.

“I’ve worked across the aisle. I’ve delivered results for my community, and they spent $26 million trying to beat me,” Moskowitz said after his victory in Florida’s 25th Congressional District. “They lit that money on fire tonight.”

He said voters in his new district, like those nationwide, were most concerned about the economy and their ability to afford a good quality of life. But he said that redistricting angered voters, too.

After redistricting, about two-thirds of voting-age residents were new to the district represented by Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor. But she also won reelection. Democrat Pia Dandiya won yet another district -- an open seat in southern Florida — that Republicans had reshaped for an advantage.

In Alabama, a Supreme Court ruling allowed the Republican-led Legislature to revert to what the GOP considered to be a friendlier map. But Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures won reelection anyway, defying Republicans' plans.

Republicans redrew two congressional districts in eastern North Carolina with a goal of unseating Democratic Rep. Don Davis in the 1st Congressional District, which has sent a Black member to Congress for more than 30 years. They made Davis' district a bit more Republican by bringing in thousands of voters from the 3rd Congressional District, held by Republican Rep. Greg Murphy. In exchange, they reassigned thousands of Democratic-leaning areas to Murphy's district.

The ensuing advertising battle for Davis' seat cost well over $50 million, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact, ranking among the most expensive House races nationally.

Davis held a slight lead Wednesday, and the race between Murphy and Democratic challenger Raymond Smith was particularly close.

What started as a Republican redistricting effort could become a Democratic redistricting movement ahead of the presidential election.

Maryland voters on Tuesday approved a constitutional amendment that will make it easier for the state's Democratic-led General Assembly to redraw districts to the party's advantage. Democratic proponents, backed by former President Barack Obama, have touted it as a way to “stop Trump.”

Democrats who made gains in numerous state legislatures Tuesday also could use that power for redistricting — most notably in Wisconsin, where districts are tilted toward Republicans. And Democratic lawmakers in New York already have taken an initial step toward congressional redistricting before the 2028 elections.

But the recent midterm redistricting revealed it can be difficult to anticipate voter behavior when trying to gerrymander districts for partisan advantage. That could particularly be the case for the next presidential election, which would be the first in a dozen years without Trump's name atop the ballot, making it hard to know how his supporters would realign behind new candidates.

The midterm election "shows districts aren’t destiny – that if voters actually show up, they can overcome district lines,” Levitt said.

Associated Press writer Bill Barrow contributed to this report.

Santiago Rivera paints on a sign outside a polling place after casting his ballot on Election Day during the midterm election Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, in Clayton, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Ala., mingles with supporters at an election night event, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt)

Democratic House candidate Bobby Pulido arrives at a polling location at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley's Student Academic Center on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, in Edinburg, Texas. (Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle via AP)