Lori E. Okimura has enjoyed a long and successful career in the sports industry, having amassed a unique portfolio of professional experience in business management, media relations, marketing and manufacturing. Now a private consultant and the President/CEO of Creative Sports Strategies, Okimura has combined her experience in every facet of the industry to provide her clients with a comprehensive perspective on sales driven marketing campaigns targeted to professional and amateur sports organizations. She began her career in media relations under the mentorship of current USC Sports Information Director, Tim Tessalone.

From 1989 to 1994, Lori worked with the Association of Volleyball Professionals and the Miller Lite/AVP Tour to develop the sport of beach volleyball into a popular domestic sports commodity. Her work at the AVP included the first taped and live network broadcasts of men’s beach volleyball in the U.S. and the introduction of beach volleyball as an Olympic sport at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics. She began her association with the Federation International de Volleyball (FIVB) in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1992 and was eventually appointed as the Technical Manager of the 1997 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in Los Angeles, and in 2004 became an FIVB Technical Supervisor for the Swatch FIVB World Tour, a 40-stop, 15 country tour that promotes Olympic Qualification events for beach volleyball and is the only tour in the world to offer equal prize money for men and women. As the only American and 1 of only 2 women in this capacity, she served as a Technical Supervisor for the SWATCH/FIVB World Tour from 2004 through 2009 to oversee the global development of beach volleyball, particularly in the Olympic Games.
 
In 1993, she co-founded the Southern California Volleyball Institute, an indoor volleyball training facility in Anaheim, Calif. (and the first of its kind in Southern California) that served as the home of the Magnum Volleyball Club, considered to this day to be one of the most successful elite training programs in the United States with a long list of national championships at the Junior Olympic level, and an alumae roster of more than 300 collegiate All-American players, professional indoor and beach players, and U.S. National Team and Olympic Team players. The Southern California Volleyball Institute served as the template for similar indoor volleyball facilities developed throughout the U.S. starting in the early 90’s.

Lori was appointed the head of Sports Marketing for Mikasa Sports in 1994, a Japanese-based sporting goods manufacturer located in Orange County, Calif. At Mikasa, she was involved in the development of the first Olympic beach volleyball, the introduction of a multi-colored volleyball for international and Olympic play (which led to the use of multi colored balls at the NCAA level in the U.S.), and directed a product line of over 39 products, including Olympic products in volleyball, beach volleyball, men’s and women’s water polo. She started an internship program at Mikasa for female student-athletes that launched the careers of top level marketing professionals in the sporting goods and event management industry. She helped start the United States Volleyball League (USYVL) in 1997, the nation’s largest youth volleyball league serving underprivileged youth in 28 states, and served on its Executive Board from 1997 to 2006. She served as the Vice Chairperson of the Sporting Goods Manufacturing Assoc. Executive Council from 1995 to 2004 to develop funding for various areas of development in the sport, including scholarship programs for men’s collegiate volleyball, and grant programs for non profit associations. She was appointed to the International Beach Commission of USA Volleyball from 1999 to 2001 and was honored by USA Volleyball with the 2000 Robert Lindsay Meritorious Service Award for her distinguished service to the sport at the executive level. After a successful run at Mikasa, including the honor of being the first female and youngest executive in the company, Lori returned to pro beach volleyball in 2000 following the Sydney Olympics to help resurrect the sport in the U.S. As the Chief Operating Officer of the Beach Volleyball America (BVA) pro beach volleyball association, Lori raised the level of sponsorship, secured an aggressive television contract, and gained the official approval of national and international governing bodies to recognize the BVA Tour as the official U.S. beach volleyball association that for the first time joined the men’s and women’s tours under one professional administrative umbrella. She successfully negotiated the merger of men’s and women’s tours into one governing body at the BVA following the Sydney Olympics where the U.S. men claimed the beach volleyball gold medal and beach volleyball enjoyed the highest ratings.

Lori started Creative Sports Strategies in 2001, a sports marketing and event management firm that has successfully produced top tier sporting events in the U.S. and abroad, and represents sporting goods companies in sales, marketing and promotional business development projects. She serves on the Board of Directors of Kids In Sports Los Angeles, founded by IOC Board Member Anita Defrantz and Olympian Rafer Johnson, to provide community-based sports programs for boys and girls in low-income communities, on the National Advisory Board of the Women’s Sports Foundation, and with the May-Treanor Ohana Foundation, founded by 2-time Olympic Gold Medalist and beach volleyball World Champion, Misty May-Treanor. Lori co-founded the Sinjin Smith Volleyball Academy in 2008 with legendary pro beach volleyball superstar, Sinjin Smith, and current USA men’s national team assistant coach and Olympic gold medalist, Dr. Gary Sato. She is involved in the promotion of the PGA’s Sony Open in Hawaii through the Friends of Hawaii Charities that serves more than 50 charitable sports foundations throughout Hawaii, and is a member of Women In Sports & Events, a nationwide professional association of top female business executives. Okimura is an alumna of the University of Southern California with a bachelor’s degree in Public Relations, and a master’s degree in Business Administration.