Dr. Maria Arlene Fernali T. Disimulacion, CEE is an academician, consultant, entrepreneur, and author. She has an extensive exposure in the tourism, training, entertainment, broadcasting, publishing, and consulting industries.  She is currently an Associate Professor at the Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management at the Far Eastern University Manila where she has been recognized as one of Ten Outstanding Faculty.  She is also the Vice President for Academic Affairs of the Asia Pacific Institute for Events Management (APIEM) Academy based in Leeds, United Kingdom. She is also a Certified ASEAN Coach for Sustainable Business under the ASEM SMEs Eco-Innovation Center (ASEIC) and by Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF).  She is also an Associate Member, National Research Council of the Philippines  (NRCP) and a Senior Advisory Board Member, Association of Global Educators. Moreover, she is also a sought-after speaker, conference moderator, peer reviewer, and an active researcher with Scopus-indexed papers. 

She graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration (BSBA) at University of the Philippines Diliman.  She completed her Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA) at FEU Makati with the Highest Distinction.  She also graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in International Hospitality and Tourism Management at Lyceum of the Philippines – Batangas with an Academic Excellence Award.  In addition, she has completed certificate programs from the Florida Atlantic University (FAU), University of South Florida (USF), University of California Irvine, and the University of North Florida.

Moreover, she was a research team member for the Bhutan Strategic Tourism Development Plan (2025-2034) and was the Philippine Representative, ASEAN Tourism Zoning, International Teleconference on Technology and Policy for Supporting Implementation of COVID-19 Recovery in Southeast Asia (2021).  She sat as a panel member for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in Measuring the Impact of Events, as well as for the Philippine Department of Tourism for the Consultation on MICE Sector (2021).

She has published research in SCOPUS.  Her research areas of interest are MICE and special events, bike tourism, creative industries, and tourism sustainability. To date, she has written several books on tourism and hospitality management, and M.I.C.E. and special events management for Books Atbp Publishing Corp (Philippines) and APIEM UK/Prasetiya Mulya Publishing (UK/Indonesia).