Member since December 2025
Shira Abel is the Founder of leading marketing consultancy Hunter & Bard, creator of The Perception Formula, and a distinguished lecturer at UC Berkeley's Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology. With over 25 years of experience in strategic marketing and change management, Shira has become a beacon for companies seeking to transform their market presence and drive exceptional growth. Her innovative approaches have made her a sought-after advisor for businesses ranging from startups to global enterprises.
Shira's expertise has propelled an impressive array of companies towards unprecedented success. She has delivered impactful talks at industry giants such as AXA, Allianz, and Samsung, while working closely with global leaders like UL, JLL, and Siemens to implement transformative growth strategies. Shira's talks combine deep insights with actionable advice, making her an invaluable asset for organizations navigating the complexities of modern business.
Shira's influence extends beyond the corporate world into academia, where she serves as a Lecturer at UC Berkeley, shaping the next generation of innovators. Her international speaking engagements, from conferences to universities, have cemented her status as a thought leader in marketing strategy and business growth.
Drawing from her extensive experience and holding an Executive MBA from the prestigious Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, Shira brings a unique blend of academic rigor and real-world expertise to her presentations. Her talks inspire, educate, and most importantly, drive real change, making her an invaluable asset for any organization looking to thrive in today's dynamic business landscape.
With Shira Abel, audiences gain more than insights, they acquire a roadmap for success, backed by years of proven results and a deep understanding of how perception shapes business outcomes.
I am obsessed with behavioral economics and how people make decisions. After spending decades in marketing and sales, and using logic till I was blue in the face, I understood that logic rarely closes a deal or changes a mind.
People decide based on their perception of a situation. I love helping professionals understand the elements of perception so they can bridge the gap between what they intend and what their audience actually hears. I give people the tools to clear up miscommunications and get the business results they are looking for.
My husband Tsadi is an engineer. I come from marketing and sales. We have been married over twenty years and we still do not see the same thing when we look at the same object.
The BMW is the best example I have.
We had four drivers in the house when our sons got their licenses, but that did not last long. My youngest was leaving for the summer and then heading to university back east. He did not need a car. We already had three. I worked from home. Tsadi took BART into San Francisco. Buying a fourth car made no sense to me, especially with two kids heading to university at the same time.
But he really wanted a convertible. We had both lost our fathers young, and he leaned on that. I finally said fine, here is your budget, go find something.
So he researched. He watched every YouTube video on the 2007 335i BMW. He figured out which engine parts tend to go, found a car on Facebook Marketplace that had all of them already replaced with receipts, interviewed the sellers, and brought it home. British racing green. He was proud.
I looked at the paint and saw sap marks. A lot of them. The kind that bond chemically to the surface over time and become nearly impossible to remove. I grew up with a car-enthusiast father and brother. I know what baked-in sap looks like.
"What did you do?" I said before I thought better of it.
"What do you mean?"
"The sap marks. The paint is a mess."
"What are you talking about? The engine is perfect."
I tell this story in my talks and get very different reactions. Women married to engineers laugh. Single men get annoyed that I gave my husband a budget at all. Engineers ask whether I ever ride in the car with him, as if you can see the paint from inside. A therapist once told me I owed him an apology. I told my husband about that and he was confused. He and I both come from a very direct culture, so it would be rude and inauthentic to not say what we think.
He saw the engine. I saw the exterior. Neither of us was wrong. We were just looking at completely different things.
You cannot sell, manage, or pitch to two people the same way just because they share a house or a goal. If you don't know what someone is actually looking at, your message will not land. That is not their problem. It's yours.
At 13, I was a geek. Gifted program, honor classes, multi-layered polo shirts, penny loafers. I wanted to change how people saw me, so I got a job at a punk clothing store. I was too young to legally work, so I told the owner I would work for $2 an hour with my pay going toward clothes. By the end of summer I had an entirely new wardrobe and walked into high school with a different image. Someone told me, "You don't look as smart as you are." My 14-year-old self was thrilled.
That was the start of a 40-year obsession with perception.
I went on to earn an MBA from Kellogg, lecture at UC Berkeley, Google, and Microsoft, and found Hunter and Bard, a marketing agency I scaled to seven-figure revenue as the sole salesperson, putting me in the fewer than 2% of female founders to reach that milestone. My clients have included Siemens, Samsung, AXA, Allianz, UL, and JLL. The U.S. State Department brought me to Macedonia and Ukraine to work with startups in developing regions. My work has driven over $1 billion in economic impact worldwide.
Today I speak to audiences from 10 to 5,000, from PMI chapters to AXA to FSAE, teaching leaders how to close the gap between their intention and how they are actually perceived. My first book, "The Perception Playbook," is completing its first draft now.
I live in the Bay Area with my husband, who is an engineer. We do not think the same way. You cannot message us the same way. That is exactly the problem I solve.
Every decision whether to join, renew, volunteer, or partner starts with perception. Yet many associations leave perception unmanaged, costing them members, engagement, and influence. In this energizing keynote, Shira Abel shares The Perception Playbook™, a practical framework for shaping how your association is seen.
Learning objectives:
Understand how perception drives member, sponsor, and volunteer decisions.
Gain practical strategies to build trust and credibility faster.
Apply The Perception Playbook™ to strengthen alignment across boards, staff, and members.
My husband Tsadi is an engineer. I come from marketing and sales. We have been married over twenty years and we still do not see the same thing when we look at the same object.
The BMW is the best example I have.
We had four drivers in the house when our sons got their licenses, but that did not last long. My youngest was leaving for the summer and then heading to university back east. He did not need a car. We already had three. I worked from home. Tsadi took BART into San Francisco. Buying a fourth car made no sense to me, especially with two kids heading to university at the same time.
But he really wanted a convertible. We had both lost our fathers young, and he leaned on that. I finally said fine, here is your budget, go find something.
So he researched. He watched every YouTube video on the 2007 335i BMW. He figured out which engine parts tend to go, found a car on Facebook Marketplace that had all of them already replaced with receipts, interviewed the sellers, and brought it home. British racing green. He was proud.
I looked at the paint and saw sap marks. A lot of them. The kind that bond chemically to the surface over time and become nearly impossible to remove. I grew up with a car-enthusiast father and brother. I know what baked-in sap looks like.
"What did you do?" I said before I thought better of it.
"What do you mean?"
"The sap marks. The paint is a mess."
"What are you talking about? The engine is perfect."
I tell this story in my talks and get very different reactions. Women married to engineers laugh. Single men get annoyed that I gave my husband a budget at all. Engineers ask whether I ever ride in the car with him, as if you can see the paint from inside. A therapist once told me I owed him an apology. I told my husband about that and he was confused. He and I both come from a very direct culture, so it would be rude and inauthentic to not say what we think.
He saw the engine. I saw the exterior. Neither of us was wrong. We were just looking at completely different things.
You cannot sell, manage, or pitch to two people the same way just because they share a house or a goal. If you don't know what someone is actually looking at, your message will not land. That is not their problem. It's yours.
At 13, I was a geek. Gifted program, honor classes, multi-layered polo shirts, penny loafers. I wanted to change how people saw me, so I got a job at a punk clothing store. I was too young to legally work, so I told the owner I would work for $2 an hour with my pay going toward clothes. By the end of summer I had an entirely new wardrobe and walked into high school with a different image. Someone told me, "You don't look as smart as you are." My 14-year-old self was thrilled.
That was the start of a 40-year obsession with perception.
I went on to earn an MBA from Kellogg, lecture at UC Berkeley, Google, and Microsoft, and found Hunter and Bard, a marketing agency I scaled to seven-figure revenue as the sole salesperson, putting me in the fewer than 2% of female founders to reach that milestone. My clients have included Siemens, Samsung, AXA, Allianz, UL, and JLL. The U.S. State Department brought me to Macedonia and Ukraine to work with startups in developing regions. My work has driven over $1 billion in economic impact worldwide.
Today I speak to audiences from 10 to 5,000, from PMI chapters to AXA to FSAE, teaching leaders how to close the gap between their intention and how they are actually perceived. My first book, "The Perception Playbook," is completing its first draft now.
I live in the Bay Area with my husband, who is an engineer. We do not think the same way. You cannot message us the same way. That is exactly the problem I solve.
Every decision whether to join, renew, volunteer, or partner starts with perception. Yet many associations leave perception unmanaged, costing them members, engagement, and influence. In this energizing keynote, Shira Abel shares The Perception Playbook™, a practical framework for shaping how your association is seen.
Learning objectives:
Understand how perception drives member, sponsor, and volunteer decisions.
Gain practical strategies to build trust and credibility faster.
Apply The Perception Playbook™ to strengthen alignment across boards, staff, and members.
