Comparison · 15 material differences
Chief vs The Executives' Club of Chicago
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
The Executives' Club of Chicago
Senior business, civic and academic leaders in the Chicago area, with company-paid Enterprise memberships covering teams of executives
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; The Executives' Club of Chicago: Membership covers "qualified leaders"; the club is aimed at senior business, civic and academic leaders in the Chicago area.
- Minimum company revenue: Chief: Builder route: US$2,000,000+ annual revenue or venture funding, or prior CXO/VP-plus experience; The Executives' Club of Chicago: No published minimum company revenue.
- Gender: Chief: A network for women leaders; The Executives' Club of Chicago: No published gender.
- Geographic restriction: Chief: No published geographic restriction; The Executives' Club of Chicago: Chicago metropolitan area.
- 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.; The Executives' Club of Chicago: $1,000 a year.
Side by side
| Chief | The Executives' Club of Chicago | |
|---|---|---|
| Profile | ||
| Type | Networking organization | Networking organization |
| Founded | 2019 (Launched in January 2019 in New York by Carolyn Childers and Lindsay Kaplan.) | Not documented |
| Headquarters | New York, United States | Chicago, United States |
| Geographic footprint | United States, with four physical Clubhouses (New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington D.C.) and virtual programming | Chicago metropolitan area |
| 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. The club publishes neither an individual member count nor a member company count. |
| Chapters | 4 | A single-city club with no chapters. |
| Primary audience | Senior women executives with at least fifteen years of leadership experience, from C-suite officers to founders and independent operators. | Senior business, civic and academic leaders in the Chicago area, with company-paid Enterprise memberships covering teams of executives |
| 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. | The club describes its members as current and emerging leaders of Chicago-area businesses, and says its board of directors is composed of chief executives and senior executives of companies headquartered in the Chicagoland area. Membership is priced for both individual executives and corporate groups of two, five or ten. |
| 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 ↗ | Membership covers "qualified leaders"; the club is aimed at senior business, civic and academic leaders in the Chicago areaThe club does not publish a specific title, revenue or seniority test.verified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| 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 ↗ | No published gender |
| Geographic restriction | No published geographic restriction | Chicago metropolitan areaverified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Invitation required | No | No |
| Sponsor required | No | Sometimes |
| 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. | Individuals apply through the club's membership application, and may be sponsored by an existing member; applications not carrying a sponsor go through the club's own review. Companies buying an Enterprise membership nominate their qualified leaders directly, without individual applications. |
| 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 publicly disclosed. The club publishes no acceptance rate, and Enterprise members bypass individual review entirely. |
| 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 | $1,000 a yearExecutive membership: one qualified leaderverified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Initiation fee | Chief does not publish pricing on its public pages; more than 60 per cent of memberships are employer-sponsored. | $100–500 one-timeOne-time initiation fee by tier: $100 Executive, $200 Enterprise 2, $350 Enterprise 5, $500 Enterprise 10. Waived if the member enrols in auto-renewal.verified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Membership term | Annual, with the option at renewal to switch between the Core and Coaching offerings | Annual, with an auto-renewal option that waives the initiation fee |
| Structure | ||
| Meeting frequency | Six guided Core peer-advisory sessions a year, or four executive coaching sessions, plus year-round events and summits | A year-round programme of speaker events, exchanges, summits and workshops |
| 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. | Leadership Circle and structured leadership programmes (LEAD, Leadership Accelerator) rather than confidential peer forums |
| Confidentiality | Core sessions are described as confidential peer-advisory sessions; Chief does not publish its confidentiality terms. | Not publicly disclosed |
| Time commitment | Not documented | Not documented |
| Organized as | Clubhouse premises, Cohort-based, Virtual, Event-focused | Event-focused |
| Confidential peer forums | Yes | Partial |
| Local chapters | No | No |
| Virtual membership | Yes | Not documented |
| Online community | Yes | Partial |
| Member directory | Yes | Partial |
| 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 | Not documented |
| Next-generation programming | No | Partial |
| Investment discussions | No | No |
| Investment opportunities | No | No |
| Philanthropic component | Not documented | No |
| Networking emphasis | High | High |
| Social emphasis | Medium | Medium |
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Last verified: not yet reviewed
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Sources
Drawn from the sources listed on each page: Chief · The Executives' Club of Chicago