Multifaceted Meetings Industry Veteran "Shimo" Shimasaki Bids Adieu

The meetings industry is losing a vast reservoir of institutional knowledge with the retirement of Christine Shimasaki, whose most recent position was managing director of 2SYNERGIZE, a Simpleview consulting company specializing on delivering intelligence to DMOs.

Known to those in the industry as “Shimo,” Shimasaki has worked in a wide range of sectors during her 40 years in the industry, from sales and executive positions for Marriott Hotels & Resorts and the San Diego Tourism Authority to managing director of Destination International’s empowerMINT.com and Event Impact Calculator.

Her career strategy has been simple, straightforward and solutions-focused.

“I don’t think I’ve ever really focused on my career, per se,” she said. “I really focused on the day-to-day. There’s just a lot of problems that need to be solved, and my journey has really taken me from problem to problem to really try to collaborate with people across the industry to bring insight to it, bring solutions to it, bring technology to it to try to solve some of our industry problems.”

[Related: Simpleview Announces Christine “Shimo” Shimasaki’s Retirement, Names Vail Ross Successor]

Shimasaki said the decision to retire comes at a time when she was enjoying some of the most rewarding work of her career, helping DMOs navigate beyond pandemic via her data and consulting work with 2SYNERGIZE.

"My consulting and having joined the Simpleview family is probably the best part of my career, where I have an opportunity to be really creative and really supported by a great company with [Simpleview CEO] Ryan Short and the Simpleview team," she said. "They've really been able to support us in a way that we could continue to do our work even through times like the pandemic, and still provide value to the DMO community.

[Related Podcast: Recovery on Pace: "Shimo" Shimasaki on the Pace of Meetings Bookings]

"We really created a dynamic product, what we call FuturePace," she continued. "So, during the pandemic—of all things—we were launching that particular product. And so my team were actually thriving during that time because we were looking to provide opportunities for DMOs to  really look to the future, even in the middle of a crisis."

Retirement Plans

Although we’ve all seen how hard it is for any hospitality industry “lifer” to actually permanently leave what often becomes a foundational part of their existence, Shimo did reveal some intentions of what she plans to do in her post-career life that officially begins January 2024: volunteer fundraising for a good cause.

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“The way that I’m looking at retirement is it’s not the end of anything but actually the beginning of some new experiences,” said Shimasaki, who makes her home in San Diego. “So, one of those is the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation, which is located in Southern California. They do amazing work in rescuing dogs, and training them and connecting them with a first responder to rescue people.”

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