Executive Profile
Friday, February 26, 1999

Name: Sharon Ito Matsuo
Age: 48
Position: Japan coordinator, Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau
First job: Packer, Dole Cannery
Favorite pastimes: Cooking, karaoke

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Providing a link to
Japan for HVCB

The Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau has chosen Sharon Ito Matsuo to handle all arrangements for Hawaii promotions in and from Japan.

This includes coordination of the Japan Association of Travel Agents Trade Show and all familiarization trips from Japan. She will work closely with Tokyo-based Kiyoshi Mukumoto, the bureau's vice president for the Japan market.

"We will work with the young people, the repeaters and the families," Matsuo said. "There is a definite cycle (on how they come to Hawaii)."

She has 12 years in the travel industry and other business field, and recently was account executive with Marc Resorts Hawaii. She worked on sales and development of Japanese, Chinese and Korean accounts. Matsuo also worked eight years for International Savings & Loan Association in the Real Estate Service Center.

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By Jerry Tune, Star-Bulletin