A Lawrence tourism official is joining the reconstituted and newly empowered Kansas Council on Travel and Tourism.

Judy Billings, director of the Lawrence Convention & Visitors Bureau, is among 10 officials from across Kansas to be named to the council by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who announced the appointments in late March.

Billings and her colleagues will serve three-year terms on the 21-member council, which is being reinvigorated after months of inactivity and will be used once again by the Kansas Department of Commerce as a resource for helping further the state’s tourism industry.

Sebelius noted that the new members’ diverse backgrounds and hometowns would help promote the state’s attractions.

“It’s great to get different perspectives,” Sebelius said, in a statement.