Shimon Avish Consulting LLC is a strategic meetings management consultancy specializing in the assessment, design, implementation and sustainment of strategic meetings management (SMM) programs. We understand that every organization has different needs, which is why our approach is modular, helping you to develop as little, or as much, of a strategic meetings management program as is right for your organization.
- To learn more about our services, click on the Services tab above.
- To read a series of comprehensive articles on Strategic Meetings Management, click on the Articles tab above.
- To contact us about a free meetings policy assessment, click on the Contact tab above.
Shimon Avish, President
Shimon has spent his entire career providing strategic consulting solutions to Fortune 200 companies. Early in his career, while at Travel Management Group, he conducted agency and card selection and implementation engagements, and developed a practice line dedicated to the selection and implementation of expense management systems.
When Shimon joined American Express Consulting in 1999, he continued providing expense management and online booking engagements, and by 2002 he added air, hotel, and car engagements to his portfolio.
In 2002, Shimon developed what would become the foundation of strategic meetings management consulting at American Express, and in 2003 he was enlisted to create the first team of consultative meetings account managers, committed to assisting American Express customers in the creation of their strategic meetings management programs. Shimon was in this role from 2003 through 2008, and during this time he presented frequently at GBTA, MPI and ACTE events, was a member of the GBTA Group & Meetings Committee, and published or contributed to numerous white papers, including:
- Components of a Well-Managed Strategic Meetings Management Program, 2004, American Express
- Mobilizing Internal Stakeholders, 2006, GBTA Group & Meetings Committee
- Valuating Strategic Meetings Management Programs, 2007, GBTA Group & Meetings Committee
Shimon joined the newly formed global meetings organization, American Express Meetings & Events, in 2008 and became the strategic account director for a marquee account, responsible for the design and implementation of the client’s global strategic meetings management program. The program quickly expanded from North America to an additional 21 markets in EMEA, with local planning teams managing over 7,000 meetings per year.
Most recently Shimon was the Director, Meetings Consulting at American Express Meetings & Events, where he was responsible for developing the methodologies for, and delivering, policy assessments and design, current state and gap analyses, program design, benchmarking, compliance management, communications, change management, and global implementation engagements. He is also author of the recent article, The Inefficient Marketplace: eRFP Spam and its Impact on the Market, American Express Meetings & Events, 2013 Forecast.
Shimon left American Express in 2013 to establish his own meetings management consultancy. He is also, once again, a member of GBTA’s Meetings Committee.
Shimon holds a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University in the City of New York, and is a Fulbright-Hays Scholar.