Peter J. O’Neil, CAE, FASAE

Gifted Communicator and Transformer of People and Associations

I met Peter in 1999—for lunch. My association executive peers said, “You gotta meet Peter O’Neil.” I was past 50 and well established. Peter was a young man, not yet 30 years old, and already an interim executive director of an association I had worked with five years earlier under the direction of Corrine Parver, president and CEO of National Association for Medical Equipment Services (NAMES).

He ordered meatloaf. His hair was thick and noticeably red.

The executive director that NAMES hired next after my consulting assignment wrapped did not have a successful run. I never worked with him. The Board dismissed him and put the vice president, Peter O’Neil, in charge of everything except public policy as interim executive director of NAMES with a “mission impossible” directive: Shut it down or transform it to a better organization for its member companies.

What kind of talent, professionalism, and communication skills do you need to take a national association through fire, with the same level of knowledge and wisdom as most other association executive directors at the time—over 45 male and with 20 years of experience at the helm?

This is his story

I had lunch with Peter again in 2007, when he was deputy executive director of AIHA, another association I knew through my consulting work with their credentials and standards staff.

He ordered meatloaf. His thick hair was still red. He said, “How come I never order meatloaf except when I’m with you?” I don’t know, I thought. Maybe this is part of the “comfort” feeling Peter exudes and makes everyone comfortable to do their best or make mistakes and keep trying.

I asked, When do you think you will become chairman of the board of ASAE (American Society of Association Executives)? He said he was not thinking about it and just wanted to volunteer to give back. “That’s big with me—giving back,” Peter said.

Two years later, in 2009, AIHA tapped Peter for the top staff position of executive director. This time he had the advantage of momentum, which he created with his management style of “culture first then strategy” and “greater perspective always gets to better decisions.”

Two years later, in 2011, Peter accepted the role of Chair of ASAE. After that, ASAE recognized Peter with their highest honor, for exceptional qualities of leadership and deep commitment to membership organizations—The Key Award.

This is Peter Now

His inspiration for the consulting business he started in 2024, Perspective Matters LLC, came from his turbulent, turnaround years as CEO of ASIS International. Peter accepted the job knowing he stepped into a position that was held for 22 years by the man before him and those of us who had worked inside ASIS knew it was not cupcakes and rainbows.

Peter rapidly created the culture of trust and teamwork that pulled back —hard, on the stick to prevent disaster. About the time ASIS reached smooth flying, COVID-19 hit and all associations dropped into a financial slide as their major revenue sources —trade shows, in-person training meetings, and chapter networking stopped suddenly. And for longer than anyone thought the pandemic would stretch.  He got through that walk of fire, too, and came out on top.

Peter’s consulting business, Perspective Matters LLC, is one year old this July 2025. He’s known for perspective, performance, and “culture first then strategy.”

His hair is still thick, shorter, and red. Probably, he still orders meatloaf. He still talks with everyone and makes a point of staying in touch, which has become an increasing challenge for everyone. Social media has made us a nation of humans that feel more isolated and we experience fewer in-person conversations with depth, emotion, and physical cues necessary for bonding.

When he turned 50, Peter said, he found a greater awareness of wisdom and how that informs context, then how that makes better business decisions. Peter is famous for including everyone and making sure he surrounds himself with people of all ages. Typical of many members in the GPC Community, Peter said, “As I passed 50, I started to think more about who we are willing to surround ourselves with. I don’t think anyone gets up and says I’m going to be mediocre today. As I gain wisdom, I notice less tolerance for nonsense or rubbish.”

When anyone steps into the GPC Community, there is no application form.

Instead, we ask you to check your score at the door with our unscientific online assessment, to see how gifted, how professional, and how much of a communicator you are. We in the community want to know the real you.

When Peter showed us his GPC scores this week, here are the points where he scored high:

On the gifteness measures

• You experience “too muchness” on many levels because your intelligence is advance and so is your emotional, Intuitive, spiritual and creativity capacity.

• You leave a job just when you’ve mastered it because you need to learn and practice something new. All of your paths are professional—just different.

• You think a lot about potential and productivity. You feel pressure to achieve better than your own record and better than other and sometimes get stuck in overthinking.

• You love to share your thousands of thoughts and you love to laugh. That’s why it’s hard to hear others say “lighten up” when you are delivering profound points.

• Your capacity to create and think deeply makes it hard to meditate or sit still; yet, it’s relaxing to walk in a forest or on the beach for hours, taking in thousands of sights, smell, sounds, and textures.

On professionalism measures

• You have professional knowledge gained by standards-based and experience-specific knowledge defined and tested by others in the same profession.

• You learned what you need to know and do with training, but you learned how to be the profession you chose by immersing yourself with others in the same profession.

• You engage in professional development throughout your entire career because competency and knowledge advance daily. It is impossible to practice in your profession with yesterday’s knowledge

• Honesty and integrity are core values and any kind of unethical practice or lack of respect for others offends you. In addition to your profession’s ethical code, you follow your own, heightened sense of responsibility to make a difference in the world.

• You understand that becoming a master is providing mentorship and support to people wanting to enter your profession and advance through levels of achievement and the lessons you learned.

On communication measures

• Your communication has a clear goal and intention. You believe in clear, direct and polite.

• You have a lot to say and work constantly on your listening skills so that you don’t over-talk others.

• You believe email is a tool and not real communication. You believe that for communication to happen “other” must be actively, dynamically participating.

Peter J. O’Neil, CAE, FASAE

Who Are You, Naturally?

Q: What have you always done with ease and grace? Think about what comes to you naturally and seems to be magic or more difficult for others to do.

Peter: I connect people, include people, and build networks. I believe in transparent and continuous learning. I’ve always been facilitating communication and decision-making with diverse groups. I love tradition and innovation, which can make a young man look like an “old soul” and can make the older me look like I’m still into youthful explorations. I see now that’s natural for me and difficult for others.

Q: Do you remember how old you were when you started doing what became part of your professional life later? 

Peter: During high school, the Kiwanis sponsored the Key Club, a leadership organization. I was Lieutenant Governor for St. Lawrence County during my junior and senior year of high school and met life-long friends who taught me so much and still do these many years later.

Gifted Awareness

Q: Is this true for you? Because you are a deep thinker, highly intuitive, creative, analytical, and curious, you bring a particularly complex dimension to professional relationships. 

Peter: I never thought of myself as “gifted.” I see myself as a hard worker who understands how to spot signals in noise and connect those signals for clarity.

Professionalism Emphasis

Q: Did you become a professional on purpose or did your career path open a door into the profession you identify with today? 

Peter: I think people around me in my younger years would observe that I was on a professional path but I am not sure I was aware of it. During my college years at Syracuse it was clear to me that I would be a professional of some kind but even then I probably didn’t fully comprehend what that could lead to.

Communication Emphasis

Q: Which of your communication skills do you seem to work on constantly, always learning, always evolving? 

Peter: Yes! I constantly work on communications. It’s the one aspect of many that I think can always improve. I am complimented for being a gifted communicator across many spectrums- public speaking, writing, etc. ;still, I am constantly working at being better.

Words to live and laugh by

The power of quotes and rhetoric is part of a GPC member’s thinking. These are words Peter lives by and uses with others to make clear what he teaches them.

Chance favors the prepared mind.

You don’t ask, you don’t get.

Argue for your limitations and they are yours.

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We’re on a mission to feature stories about professionals who are initiating meaningful conversations with other gifted minds and storytellers—and who they serve.

If you’re curious about how sensitive, creative, intense, multi-potential, professional, ethical, expressive, and clear you are about your intentions, wants, and needs, check your GPC score.

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