William Gentes
Project Coordinator, Lake County Underage Drinking and Drug Prevention Task Force


Bill Gentes is the Project Coordinator for the Lake County Underage Drinking and Drug Prevention Task Force hosted by the Lake County Health Department. The Task Force focuses on underage drinking, prescription drug abuse, heroin and marijuana issues. The Task Force was the leader in passage of the aggressive statewide social host law that became law in 2013, as well as numerous state laws in 2014. The Task Force is the leader in the Midwest in the disposal of prescription drugs for law enforcement, with some innovative programs. In addition the Task Force won the 2013 Cutting Edge award from the Lake County Municipal League for exceptional municipal programs for its countywide prescription drug network. Bill was given the 2014 CADCA National Advocate of the Year for his work with federal and state officials. The Coalition was awarded the 2016 Presentation of Year by CADCA as well. He is a former two term Mayor of Round Lake, Illinois, a community of 18,000 people. Prior to his election as Mayor, Mr. Gentes served three terms as Trustee for the Round Lake Area Library District and was Chairman of the Round Lake Planning and Zoning Commission for 5 years. In addition, Mr. Gentes has spoken at numerous national conferences on blogging and transportation issues. He is a 1983 graduate of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, where he graduated with a double major in History and English Literature. Mr. Gentes was born in New York, but grew up in Guadalajara, Mexico and attended Mexican schools for 9 years where he became fluent in Spanish. He is married and has a 26 year old daughter.

Articles

  1. Confronting Addiction: Underage Drinking
  2. One Voice: One Voice Conference Details
  3. Connecting our faith communities: Partnerships for Prevention