Gary Shapiro, whose ninja-like instincts powered the Consumer Electronics Show to become among the largest annual U.S. trade shows, is ready to unplug.
Last week’s announcement that Shapiro is stepping down as president and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association is the final act of a dramatic journey spanning nearly 50 years.
Few could have predicted that the young law student walking into the association’s office in 1978 would be the organization’s transformative figure. Yet step-by-step with each promotion, Shapiro’s instincts proved equal parts insightful and daring.
By the time he assumed the leadership mantle in 1991, CTA was in need of a hero. Shapiro delivered.
“When I took over during the early 1990s recession, the trade show part of my job was simple: keep CES alive,” Shapiro recalled in an interview with TSNN.
CES 2026 drew more than 148,000 attendees, marking its largest post-pandemic event, and a sizeable jump from 142,465 total attendees a year ago. In 2025, it was ranked No. 2 on the TSNN Top 250 Trade Show list.
If the rocket launch to today’s influential role in the global economy were a straight line, the rest of this story might feel a touch boring. But, suffice to stay, Shapiro’s tenure has been eventful.
Among the challenges he overcame were: Y2K (an especially scary time for tech companies), the Great Recession of 2008, and of course, the Covid-19 pandemic.
Through it all, perhaps Shapiro’s true superpower has been his willingness to act. In the case of COVID, he moved the event to Microsoft Teams because the show had to go on even if it would be a shell of itself for one year.
“Moving CES 2021 early to a fully digital format was the right call even though it cost us millions,” he said. “It reinforced a lesson I later wrote about in Pivot or Die: Make hard decisions early, stay true to your values, and adapt before it is too late.”
Under Gary Shapiro, CES has risen to No. 2 on the TSNN Top 250 Trade Shows List. Photo: CTA
A Hub of Innovation
Given Shapiro’s mentality, it’s little wonder CES has become the unofficial kickoff to each new business year. The number of today’s everyday features that began on the show floor at the Las Vegas Convention Center is staggering.
To name just a few: CTA championed the transition to HDTV, led “airplane mode,” elevated Energy Star, and successfully lobbied for hundreds of other standards and policies, including a law allowing hearing devices to be sold at retail. In 2023, Shapiro announced technology as a new eighth pillar of the Human Security for All (HS4A) campaign at the United Nations—underscoring the power of technology as a tool to advance human security.
“From the launch of HDTV and OTC hearing devices to voluntary energy efficiency agreements that save energy for consumers to our deal with the UN to protect fundamental human securities, we showed that industry can lead with market-based solutions that build trust,” he told TSNN.
To get to that point required just as much internal creativity.
During Shapiro’s tenure, he helped CTA become an independent association and never lost sight of his team no matter how large the show grew. The focus on employees manifested itself into the creation of a wellness program and boot camp, a student loan payoff program, and a $40,000 forgivable home loan near the Washington, D.C.-area office.
The ability to consider the needs of others is another trademark of CTA and CES under Shapiro. His vision led to the creation of the CTA Foundation focused on tech for older adults and those with disabilities, as well as a $15 million equal opportunity fund focused on funding underrepresented founders, entrepreneurs, and diverse leadership teams.
“I’m proud that we used the CES platform responsibly,” he said.
Kinsey Fabrizio, left, will succeed Gary Shapiro, right, as president and CEO of CTA. Photo: CTA
Maintaining credibility
It’s unlikely Shapiro will surrender his well-earned podium. He regularly and publicly challenges domestic and international leaders to rise above politics to better serve the public at large.
Integrity is among the hallmarks of what has allowed CTA’s membership, revenue, and assets to grow tenfold since 1991. Notably, CES points out in the announcement of Shapiro’s planned retirement, that it is the “most transparent trade show—adhering to rigorous auditing standards and making attendance data publicly available.”
“CES became a marquee event by focusing on three principles: serve innovators, protect credibility, and keep improving,” he said in the TSNN interview.
In line with looking ahead, Shapiro ensured a natural line of succession. Kinsey Fabrizio, who will take the mantle from Shapiro on May 1, “brings a sharp focus on how technology improves lives and on making CES the global forum for ideas, investment, innovation, and deals,” Shapiro said. (Fabrizio was a guest on the Trade Show Talk podcast in December 2025. Listen here.)
CES may be an exceptional expo, but Shapiro firmly believes other trade show organizations can follow a similar playbook by sticking to the fundamentals to create marquee events.
“My advice: Know exactly who you serve and deliver real value to them,” he said. “Protect your credibility with transparency. And never assume your success today guarantees your relevance tomorrow. If you do those things consistently, ‘marquee’ becomes a result, not an objective.”
