Comparison · 16 material differences
Academy for Chief Executives vs Chief
This comparison was generated on request from the records. It carries no editorial verdict and is not indexed. The published comparisons are listed on the compare page.
Read down each column for one organization, across a row for the difference. A bronze mark at the left of a cell means the organizations differ on that row. A dash or “not published” means the organization does not disclose the fact — it is not a zero.
Verified September 2026
Peer advisory
Verified September 2026 Academy for Chief Executives
UK chief executives and managing directors of established mid-market companies
Networking organization
Chief
Senior women executives with at least fifteen years of leadership experience, from C-suite officers to founders and independent operators.
What the records say
- Role or title — Academy for Chief Executives: Chief Executive or Managing Director, owner or employed leader of the business; Chief: C-suite route: CXO title at an organisation with 1,000+ employees, or a board seat at a public company.
- Minimum company revenue — Academy for Chief Executives: Minimum £5 million turnover; Chief: Builder route: US$2,000,000+ annual revenue or venture funding, or prior CXO/VP-plus experience.
- Minimum employees — Academy for Chief Executives: At least 20 employees; Chief: No published minimum employees.
- Gender — Academy for Chief Executives: No published gender; Chief: A network for women leaders.
- Annual dues — Academy for Chief Executives: Not publicly disclosed. The Academy never published membership fees and no reliable third-party figure was found.; Chief: Not published on Chief's own membership, application or FAQ pages. Reported figures for 2026 cluster around US$5,900 a year for the Executive Education and Executive Advisory tiers, with Core tiers reported higher; earlier reporting cited US$5,400 for vice-president level and US$7,800 for C-suite, and Fortune reported US$5,800 in 2023. Chief confirms none of these figures publicly..
Side by side
| Academy for Chief Executives | Chief | |
|---|---|---|
| Profile | ||
| Type | Peer advisory | Networking organization |
| Founded | Not documented | 2019 (Launched in January 2019 in New York by Carolyn Childers and Lindsay Kaplan.) |
| Headquarters | Hedge End, United Kingdom | New York, United States |
| Geographic footprint | United Kingdom; the Academy ran regional groups led by franchisee Chairs but never published a public list of locations | United States, with four physical Clubhouses (New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington D.C.) and virtual programming |
| Members | 400as of January 2015 | Not currently disclosed. Chief's site states members represent "10,000+" companies and 67 per cent of the Fortune 100, and that 44 per cent of members are in the C-suite, but publishes no current total. Wikipedia records 20,000 members as of October 2022. |
| Chapters | 30 | 4 |
| Primary audience | UK chief executives and managing directors of established mid-market companies | Senior women executives with at least fifteen years of leadership experience, from C-suite officers to founders and independent operators. |
| Typical member | Vistage's acquisition release described Academy members as "U.K. based business leaders, Chief Executives or Managing Directors, owners or employed leaders of companies with a minimum of £5 million turnover and at least 20 employees". A 2015 trade profile put the member range at £2 million to £200 million turnover, so the threshold appears to have tightened over time. | Chief describes four member journeys: C-suite (CXO title at organisations with 1,000 or more employees, or a public-company board seat), senior leaders and executives (CEO, CXO, VP or SVP and founders at mid-market to enterprise firms), and builders and navigators (solopreneurs, consultants and fractional leaders with prior CXO or VP-plus experience, or a business with US$2 million or more in revenue or venture funding). Chief states more than 60 per cent of members are sponsored by their employers. |
| Qualification | ||
| Role or title | Chief Executive or Managing Director, owner or employed leader of the businessPer Vistage's 2018 acquisition release describing Academy membership.verified September 2026 · source ↗ | C-suite route: CXO title at an organisation with 1,000+ employees, or a board seat at a public companySenior Director titles at companies with 10,000+ employees are reviewed case by case.verified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Minimum company revenue | Minimum £5 million turnoverPer Vistage's 2018 acquisition release. A 2015 trade profile described the member range as £2m-£200m turnover, suggesting the published floor rose over time.verified September 2026 · source ↗ | Builder route: US$2,000,000+ annual revenue or venture funding, or prior CXO/VP-plus experienceApplies to solopreneurs, independents, consultants, founders and fractional leaders.verified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Minimum employees | At least 20 employeesPer Vistage's 2018 acquisition release.verified September 2026 · source ↗ | No published minimum employees |
| Gender | No published gender | A network for women leadersChief describes itself as a community of women leaders.verified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Geographic restriction | United Kingdomverified September 2026 · source ↗ | No published geographic restriction |
| Invitation required | No | No |
| Sponsor required | No | No |
| Application process | Historically, prospective members were recruited by a regional Academy Chair, who ran the fit assessment and placed the member in a non-conflicting group. No public application portal survives; enquiries now route to Vistage UK. | Candidates apply online and Chief reviews the application against its published criteria. Qualified applicants are contacted for a 30-minute call, typically within a few business days, to discuss goals and Chief's offering. |
| Selectivity | Not publicly disclosed. The Academy published no acceptance data. | Not publicly disclosed. Chief states it "previously had a waitlist, but we've since moved to an application-based model"; Fortune reported a waitlist of 60,000 in 2023. |
| Cost | ||
| Annual dues | Not publicly disclosed. The Academy never published membership fees and no reliable third-party figure was found.verified September 2026 | Not published on Chief's own membership, application or FAQ pages. Reported figures for 2026 cluster around US$5,900 a year for the Executive Education and Executive Advisory tiers, with Core tiers reported higher; earlier reporting cited US$5,400 for vice-president level and US$7,800 for C-suite, and Fortune reported US$5,800 in 2023. Chief confirms none of these figures publicly.verified September 2026 |
| Initiation fee | Not publicly disclosedverified September 2026 | Chief does not publish pricing on its public pages; more than 60 per cent of memberships are employer-sponsored. |
| Membership term | Not documented | Annual, with the option at renewal to switch between the Core and Coaching offerings |
| Structure | ||
| Meeting frequency | Historically monthly full-day group meetings hosted in rotation by members, plus a roughly two-hour one-to-one mentoring session with the Chair | Six guided Core peer-advisory sessions a year, or four executive coaching sessions, plus year-round events and summits |
| Peer forums | Regional groups of non-competing chief executives and managing directors led by a franchisee Academy Chair | Core groups are curated by member journey (C-suite, Executive Leader, Builder, Navigator) and professional goals; a member testimonial on Chief's site describes a group of about ten. |
| Confidentiality | Groups were confidential; the organisation's public material stressed that members could raise issues they could not discuss with staff | Core sessions are described as confidential peer-advisory sessions; Chief does not publish its confidentiality terms. |
| Time commitment | Historically about one full day a month plus a two-hour mentoring session | Not documented |
| Organized as | Forum-based, Chapter-based | Clubhouse premises, Cohort-based, Virtual, Event-focused |
| Confidential peer forums | Yes | Yes |
| Local chapters | Yes | No |
| Virtual membership | Not documented | Yes |
| Online community | Not documented | Yes |
| Member directory | Not documented | Yes |
| Events | Yes | Yes |
| Programming | ||
| Educational programming | Yes | Yes |
| Leadership development | Yes | Yes |
| Retreats | Not documented | Partial |
| Travel | No | No |
| Family programming | No | No |
| Spouse and partner programming | No | No |
| Next-generation programming | No | No |
| Investment discussions | Not documented | No |
| Investment opportunities | No | No |
| Philanthropic component | No | Not documented |
| Networking emphasis | Medium | High |
| Social emphasis | Low | Medium |
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Sources
Drawn from the sources listed on each page: Academy for Chief Executives · Chief