People to Watch

“I got into the hospitality industry because I could type,” says Jim Cacabelos, regional sales manager for the Staypineapple group of boutique hotels. He began his journey through the industry in 1984 as a clerk typist at the Seattle-King County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau (now known as Visit Seattle). Over the past three decades Cacabelos has been involved in many aspects of the meetings and events business. His career has included positions in the region’s Convention and Visitor Bureaus and also several major hotel properties. He even ventured into the high-tech side when he briefly worked for a computerized site-selection

“The more involved you are, the more you get out of it,” explains Sara Blayne, CMP. That philosophy helps explain why she is so active in the meeting and events industry. As General Manager of the Lynnwood Convention Center, in Lynnwood, Washington, Blayne works for SMG, the highly successful facilities management company. She oversees a busy venue that hosts more than 470 events a year. In addition, she serves on the Board of Directors of the Snohomish County Tourism Bureau, and she is this year’s president-elect of Meeting Planners International (MPI) Washington State Chapter. Blayne was destined for a career

Playground Director and General Manager Scott Youngblood was on a mission. “My mission was to re-shape the way we thought about ourselves and our guests,” he explains. “I wanted to bring a new perspective and create a new set of norms to this hotel.” Over the past three years, he has managed to do just that. The facility has shown dramatic improvement in quality of cleanliness, physical condition of the property and customer satisfaction. From one of the lowest rated hotels in the Embassy Suites system, the property has steadily climbed into the top tier of the organization. After several