Comparison · 8 material differences
Chief vs Ellevate Network
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
Networking organization
Verified September 2026 Chief
Senior women executives with at least fifteen years of leadership experience, from C-suite officers to founders and independent operators.
Networking organization
Ellevate Network
Professional women at all career stages, from early career through senior executive, plus corporate partners buying membership for their employees
What the records say
- Role or title: Chief: C-suite route: CXO title at an organisation with 1,000+ employees, or a board seat at a public company; Ellevate Network: No published role or title.
- Minimum company revenue: Chief: Builder route: US$2,000,000+ annual revenue or venture funding, or prior CXO/VP-plus experience; Ellevate Network: No published minimum company revenue.
- Gender: Chief: A network for women leaders; Ellevate Network: Ellevate describes itself as "the largest community of women at work" and states its mission as "creating a world where everyone belongs by helping women who challenge the status quo thrive at work".
- Annual dues: 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.; Ellevate Network: Prices are recorded from Ellevate's own pricing page as it stood in August 2023. The current Hivebrite-hosted site does not display membership tiers or prices to visitors who are not logged in, so present-day pricing could not be verified..
Side by side
| Chief | Ellevate Network | |
|---|---|---|
| Profile | ||
| Type | Networking organization | Networking organization |
| Founded | 2019 (Launched in January 2019 in New York by Carolyn Childers and Lindsay Kaplan.) | 1997 (Founded in 1997 as 85 Broads by Janet Hanson, "one of the first women to be promoted to sales management at Goldman Sachs"; the name referred to Goldman Sachs's former headquarters at 85 Broad Street in New York. Rebranded as Ellevate Network in 2014.) |
| Headquarters | New York, United States | United States |
| Geographic footprint | United States, with four physical Clubhouses (New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington D.C.) and virtual programming | Local chapters, mostly in United States cities with a small international presence; Ellevate's chapters page listed 27 chapters in 2023, including Dubai, Madrid and Toronto |
| Members | 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. | Not publicly disclosed. Ellevate describes itself as "the largest community of women at work" but publishes no member number. |
| Chapters | 4 | 27 |
| Primary audience | Senior women executives with at least fifteen years of leadership experience, from C-suite officers to founders and independent operators. | Professional women at all career stages, from early career through senior executive, plus corporate partners buying membership for their employees |
| Typical member | 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. | Professional women across industries and career stages. Ellevate's tiers distinguish general members from senior executives: the Executive tier's Squads programme was described as connecting "other senior executives", while Pro-tier Squads were open more broadly. |
| Qualification | ||
| Role or title | 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 ↗ | No published role or title |
| Minimum company revenue | 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 ↗ | No published minimum company revenue |
| Gender | A network for women leadersChief describes itself as a community of women leaders.verified September 2026 · source ↗ | Ellevate describes itself as "the largest community of women at work" and states its mission as "creating a world where everyone belongs by helping women who challenge the status quo thrive at work"Ellevate does not publish an explicit rule on whether men may join; the organisation's programming, chapters and Squads are addressed to women. Recorded as stated rather than as an exclusion.verified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Invitation required | No | No |
| Sponsor required | No | No |
| Application process | 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. | Members sign up online and choose a tier; there is no application form, sponsor, interview or vetting step. New members are pointed to a live welcome session, described as Ellevate 101. Corporate partners buy access for groups of employees separately. |
| Selectivity | 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. | Not applicable: Ellevate is an open-enrolment community with no published eligibility test or acceptance process. |
| Cost | ||
| Annual dues | 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 | Prices are recorded from Ellevate's own pricing page as it stood in August 2023. The current Hivebrite-hosted site does not display membership tiers or prices to visitors who are not logged in, so present-day pricing could not be verified. |
| Monthly dues | Chief does not publish pricing on its public pages; more than 60 per cent of memberships are employer-sponsored. | $40 a monthPro tier: "$40.00/mo when paying up front", recorded from Ellevate's own pricing page as archived on 1 August 2023. Includes the Squads mastermind programme, free virtual event tickets, 50% off most in-person events and the Experts programme.verified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Membership term | Annual, with the option at renewal to switch between the Core and Coaching offerings | Monthly or annual subscription; prices quoted per month when paid up front |
| Structure | ||
| Meeting frequency | Six guided Core peer-advisory sessions a year, or four executive coaching sessions, plus year-round events and summits | Local chapter meet-ups and workshops, virtual Roundtables and Community Circles, executive events and the annual Mobilize Women summit |
| Peer forums | 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. | Squads: small facilitated mastermind groups running for twelve weeks, with a separate Executive Squads track |
| Confidentiality | Core sessions are described as confidential peer-advisory sessions; Chief does not publish its confidentiality terms. | Ellevate describes Roundtables and Community Circles as "safe spaces"; no formal confidentiality policy is published |
| Time commitment | Not documented | Squads run as a twelve-week programme; other participation is optional |
| Organized as | Clubhouse premises, Cohort-based, Virtual, Event-focused | Chapter-based, Cohort-based, Virtual, Event-focused |
| Confidential peer forums | Yes | Yes |
| Local chapters | No | Yes |
| Virtual membership | Yes | Yes |
| Online community | Yes | Yes |
| Member directory | Yes | Yes |
| Events | Yes | Yes |
| Programming | ||
| Educational programming | Yes | Yes |
| Leadership development | Yes | Yes |
| Retreats | Partial | No |
| Travel | No | No |
| Family programming | No | No |
| Spouse and partner programming | No | No |
| Next-generation programming | No | No |
| Investment discussions | No | No |
| Investment opportunities | No | No |
| Philanthropic component | Not documented | Partial |
| Networking emphasis | High | High |
| Social emphasis | Medium | Medium |
Next
Last verified: not yet reviewed
Report an error on this page
Sources
Drawn from the sources listed on each page: Chief · Ellevate Network