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Tourism Richmond head retires

Published 12:18 PST, Fri March 2, 2018
Last Updated: 2:12 PDT, Wed May 12, 2021
Less than a year after taking the reins at
Tourism Richmond, Bruce Okabe is stepping down as chief executive officer.
“If I was 45, I would not be leaving,” Okabe
told The Richmond Sentinel.
As it happens, Okabe spent 40 years helping
build his family’s small-to-medium-sized business, and when that was recently
sold, the opportunity surfaced to start the next chapter in his life.
Although he hadn’t planned to retire, he’s
now 62, and plans to spend more time with his family.
Looking back on the past 12 months, Okabe
believes he’s accomplished the three main goals he set out for the
organization:
• put Tourism Richmond on a solid strategic
path
• build the Richmond destination brand
• assemble the right team
“I think I’ve done all that,” Okabe said.
Okabe credited the team that was already in
place when he arrived for making his job much easier.
“It wasn’t difficult to take the organization
from where we were to where we needed to be,” he said.
Tourism Richmond’s vision was shaped during a
two-day session with board members, where the group looked at where the
organization was heading, among other things, he said.
Earlier this month, Tourism Richmond launched
its new identity: Pacific. Authentic. Richmond BC
That new identity stresses who Richmond is
vesus what Richmond is, Okabe said.
Central Richmond is vibrant, Steveston is
historic, there’s a working harbour, and people from all over the world helped
build Richmond, Okabe said.
And that remains the case, he said, with
people from all parts of the world now calling Richmond home.