Ross Alan Shafer (born December 10, 1954) is an American

comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolish (as in slapstick), or employing prop comedy. A comedian who addresses an audience dir ...

, network television host, and motivational and leadership speaker/consultant. He has authored nine business books, won a stand-up comedy competition, and earned six Emmys as a network talk and game show host.

Biography

Born and raised in

McMinnville, Oregon McMinnville is the county seat of and largest city in Yamhill County, Oregon, United States. The city is named after McMinnville, Tennessee. As of the 2019 census, the city had a population estimate of 34,743. McMinnville is at the confluence o ...

, Shafer graduated from Federal Way High School in

Federal Way, Washington Federal Way is a city in King County, Washington, United States. One of the most recently incorporated cities in the county, its population was 101,030 at the 2020 census. Federal Way is the tenth-largest city in Washington and the fifth-larg ...

. As a high school All-Conference football player, he received a scholarship to play linebacker for the

University of Puget Sound The University of Puget Sound (UPS or Puget Sound) is a private university in Tacoma, Washington. The university draws approximately 2,600 students from 44 states and 16 countries. It offers 1,200 courses each year in more than 50 traditional an ...

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...

, where he earned a business marketing degree. Shafer said of his early life, "I had trouble finding anything that I was passionate about, or that made me happy." He then opened a "combination pet and stereo store". His first foray into acting came in the form of a community play; afterward, he tried out for a stand-up comedy competition. From 1984 to 1989, Shafer hosted the local Seattle-based talk and comedy show, '' Almost Live!'', and also hosted

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

's late night talk show, '' The Late Show''. In the 1986-1987 season, Shafer hosted the Canadian game show “Love Me Love Me Not (game show)” that also aired in the United States on the USA Network but was not a hit and ended after one full season of 130 episodes. From 1990 to 1991, Shafer hosted a short-lived revival of ''

Match Game ''Match Game'' is an American television panel game show that premiered on NBC in 1962 and has been revived several times over the course of the last six decades. The game features contestants trying to match answers given by celebrity panelis ...

'' on ABC. Ross works as a

keynote speaker A keynote in public speaking is a talk that establishes a main underlying theme. In corporate or commercial settings, greater importance is attached to the delivery of a keynote speech or keynote address. The keynote establishes the framework fo ...

and leadership coach in the areas of market share growth, customer friction, and workforce motivator. He coaches leaders and teams on how to cross-pollinate innovative ideas about emerging trends, shifting buying habits, and the motivation of work forces during mergers and acquisitions. His clients include

Ace Hardware Ace Hardware Corporation is an American hardware retailers' cooperative based in Oak Brook, Illinois, United States. It is the world's largest hardware retail cooperative, and the largest non-grocery American retail cooperative. Founded in 1 ...

Aflac Aflac Inc. (American Family Life Assurance Company) is an American insurance company and is the largest provider of supplemental insurance in the United States. The company was founded in 1955 and is based in Columbus, Georgia. In the U.S., ...

, and

Hard Rock Cafe Hard Rock Cafe, Inc. is a British-based multinational chain of theme restaurants, memorabilia shops, casinos and museums founded in 1971 by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton in London. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and ...

.Ross' Client List
/ref> Ross also authored a cooking book, ''Cook-Like-A-Stud''.

Bibliography

*''Cook-Like-A-Stud'' (1991) *''Nobody Moved Your Cheese!'' (2003) *''The Customer Shouts Back!'' (2006) *''Are You Relevant?'' (2009) *''Grab More Market Share'' (2011) *''Shy to Confident'' (2013) *''Absolutely Necessary'' (2015) *''Behave Like a Startup'' (2016) *''Success: It's on You'' (2016) *''No More Customer Friction'' (2017) *''Rattled'' (2021)

References

External links

* *Ross Shafe
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Shafer, Ross 1954 births American game show hosts 21st-century American comedians American television talk show hosts Late night television talk show hosts Living people People from Denver People from McMinnville, Oregon People from Seattle University of Puget Sound alumni

Biography

Bibliography

See also

References

External links