Comparison · 15 material differences
Chief vs MacKay CEO Forums
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.
Peer advisory
MacKay CEO Forums
Canadian CEOs, business owners and senior executives, split into forums by role and company size
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; MacKay CEO Forums: CEO Membership: CEO, business owner or founder.
- Minimum company revenue: Chief: Builder route: US$2,000,000+ annual revenue or venture funding, or prior CXO/VP-plus experience; MacKay CEO Forums: CEO Membership: annual company revenue $5MM-$5B+.
- Gender: Chief: A network for women leaders; MacKay CEO Forums: No published gender.
- Geographic restriction: Chief: No published geographic restriction; MacKay CEO Forums: Canada.
- 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.; MacKay CEO Forums: C$12,000 a year.
Side by side
| Chief | MacKay CEO Forums | |
|---|---|---|
| Profile | ||
| Type | Networking organization | Peer advisory |
| Founded | 2019 (Launched in January 2019 in New York by Carolyn Childers and Lindsay Kaplan.) | 2005 (MacKay's own pages say "more than 20 years" and cite "5,000+ Alumni members across Canada over 20 years" without naming a year; the Peer Resources directory dates the founding to 2005. Nancy MacKay, PhD is listed as Founder and CEO on the leadership page.) |
| Headquarters | New York, United States | North Vancouver, Canada |
| Geographic footprint | United States, with four physical Clubhouses (New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington D.C.) and virtual programming | Canada: Forum Chairs listed in twelve regions across British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Nova Scotia |
| 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. | 1,300as of September 2026 |
| Chapters | 4 | 12 |
| Primary audience | Senior women executives with at least fifteen years of leadership experience, from C-suite officers to founders and independent operators. | Canadian CEOs, business owners and senior executives, split into forums by role and company size |
| 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. | Members are chief executives, owners and senior executives of Canadian companies with revenue from about $5 million to over $5 billion, with a separate tier for companies above $1 billion. MacKay states that 37% of members are women. |
| 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 ↗ | CEO Membership: CEO, business owner or founderverified 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 ↗ | CEO Membership: annual company revenue $5MM-$5B+Currency is not stated on the page; MacKay prices in Canadian dollars plus GST/HST.verified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| 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 | CanadaForum Chairs are listed only in Canadian regions.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. | Prospective members apply through the Join MacKay pages or by contacting the office, then are screened for strategic fit and matched to a forum of non-competing peers. Community members may be invited to sit in on a full-day forum meeting before committing to a forum tier. |
| 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. MacKay says peer groups are screened for strategic fit but publishes no acceptance rate. |
| 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 | C$12,000 a yearCEO Membership: "$12,000 (full year)". Prices are quoted before GST/HST.verified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Initiation fee | Chief does not publish pricing on its public pages; more than 60 per cent of memberships are employer-sponsored. | Not publicly disclosed; no joining fee is mentioned on the membership pages.verified September 2026 |
| Membership term | Annual, with the option at renewal to switch between the Core and Coaching offerings | Annual (dues quoted as "full year") |
| Structure | ||
| Meeting frequency | Six guided Core peer-advisory sessions a year, or four executive coaching sessions, plus year-round events and summits | Seven forum meetings a year: six full-day sessions plus a two-day retreat; plus speaker sessions and national summits |
| 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. | Forums of about 14 carefully matched, non-competing members led by a certified Forum Chair |
| Confidentiality | Core sessions are described as confidential peer-advisory sessions; Chief does not publish its confidentiality terms. | Confidentiality is one of MacKay's stated core values; forums are described as confidential, judgement-free spaces |
| Time commitment | Not documented | Roughly eight meeting days a year at full attendance; members must attend at least four of the seven meetings |
| Organized as | Clubhouse premises, Cohort-based, Virtual, Event-focused | Forum-based, Chapter-based, Event-focused |
| Confidential peer forums | Yes | Yes |
| Local chapters | No | Yes |
| Virtual membership | Yes | Not documented |
| Online community | Yes | Yes |
| Member directory | Yes | Partial |
| Events | Yes | Yes |
| Programming | ||
| Educational programming | Yes | Yes |
| Leadership development | Yes | Yes |
| Retreats | Partial | Yes |
| Travel | No | No |
| Family programming | No | Yes |
| Spouse and partner programming | No | Not documented |
| Next-generation programming | No | No |
| Investment discussions | No | Partial |
| Investment opportunities | No | No |
| Philanthropic component | Not documented | Partial |
| Networking emphasis | High | High |
| Social emphasis | Medium | Medium |
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Sources
Drawn from the sources listed on each page: Chief · MacKay CEO Forums