Comparison · 16 material differences
MacKay CEO Forums vs The Alternative Board
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 MacKay CEO Forums
Canadian CEOs, business owners and senior executives, split into forums by role and company size
Peer advisory
The Alternative Board
Owners and leaders of privately held, growth-focused small and mid-sized companies.
What the records say
- Role or title — MacKay CEO Forums: CEO Membership: CEO, business owner or founder; The Alternative Board: Business owner or leader of a privately held, growth-focused company.
- Minimum company revenue — MacKay CEO Forums: CEO Membership: annual company revenue $5MM-$5B+; The Alternative Board: No published minimum company revenue.
- Geographic restriction — MacKay CEO Forums: Canada; The Alternative Board: No published geographic restriction.
- Annual dues — MacKay CEO Forums: C$12,000 a year; The Alternative Board: Pricing is set by each independently owned franchise and is not published centrally..
Side by side
| MacKay CEO Forums | The Alternative Board | |
|---|---|---|
| Profile | ||
| Type | Peer advisory | Peer advisory |
| Founded | 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.) | 1990 (Founded by Allen Fishman, reportedly in St. Louis, Missouri, after his own experience of the value a board of directors provided when his company went public. TAB began franchising in 1996.) |
| Headquarters | North Vancouver, Canada | Westminster, United States |
| Geographic footprint | Canada: Forum Chairs listed in twelve regions across British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Nova Scotia | Boards in 25 or more countries across the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australasia, delivered through independently owned franchises |
| Members | 1,300as of September 2026 | Not disclosed as a current headcount. TAB's own FAQ states it has "supported more than 25,000 businesses worldwide", with "members representing over 1,100 industries" who "collectively generate $29.3 billion in gross revenue". Secondary sources report more than 4,600 current members globally; TAB does not publish that figure. |
| Chapters | 12 | 500 |
| Primary audience | Canadian CEOs, business owners and senior executives, split into forums by role and company size | Owners and leaders of privately held, growth-focused small and mid-sized companies. |
| Typical member | 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. | Members are owners and senior leaders of privately held companies, recruited locally by the franchise owner who facilitates their board; competing businesses are excluded from the same board. TAB states members represent over 1,100 industries and collectively generate US$29.3 billion in gross revenue, and reports an average member tenure of 4.7 years. |
| Qualification | ||
| Role or title | CEO Membership: CEO, business owner or founderverified September 2026 · source ↗ | Business owner or leader of a privately held, growth-focused companyTAB publishes no revenue, employee or net-worth threshold.verified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Minimum company revenue | 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 ↗ | No published minimum company revenue |
| Geographic restriction | CanadaForum Chairs are listed only in Canadian regions.verified September 2026 · source ↗ | No published geographic restriction |
| Invitation required | No | No |
| Sponsor required | No | No |
| Application process | 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. | Prospective members contact a local TAB board through the site's board finder. The local facilitator coach screens and hand-selects members, excluding competitors of existing members, and places them on a board. There is no central admissions process. |
| Selectivity | Not publicly disclosed. MacKay says peer groups are screened for strategic fit but publishes no acceptance rate. | Not publicly disclosed. Secondary reporting describes TAB as effectively invitation-based, with most members joining through referrals from existing members; TAB does not state this on its own pages. |
| Cost | ||
| Annual dues | C$12,000 a yearCEO Membership: "$12,000 (full year)". Prices are quoted before GST/HST.verified September 2026 · source ↗ | Pricing is set by each independently owned franchise and is not published centrally. |
| Monthly dues | All figures are annual and quoted before GST/HST. MacKay publishes each tier's price on its own membership page. | Not publicly disclosed. TAB states that membership dues are billed monthly with no binding contract and 30 days' written notice to leave, but terms and amounts are set locally by each franchise owner and no schedule is published.verified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Initiation fee | Not publicly disclosed; no joining fee is mentioned on the membership pages.verified September 2026 | Pricing is set by each independently owned franchise and is not published centrally. |
| Membership term | Annual (dues quoted as "full year") | Monthly billing, no binding contract; 30 days' written notice required to leave |
| Structure | ||
| Meeting frequency | Seven forum meetings a year: six full-day sessions plus a two-day retreat; plus speaker sessions and national summits | Monthly board meetings of about four hours (described elsewhere on TAB's site as half-day sessions), plus a monthly one-to-one coaching call |
| Peer forums | Forums of about 14 carefully matched, non-competing members led by a certified Forum Chair | Boards of non-competing business owners, given as up to eight members on TAB's peer-advisory page and 8-10 on its membership page, each led by a TAB Certified Facilitator Coach. |
| Confidentiality | Confidentiality is one of MacKay's stated core values; forums are described as confidential, judgement-free spaces | Boards exclude direct competitors and operate as private advisory groups; TAB does not publish its confidentiality terms. |
| Time commitment | Roughly eight meeting days a year at full attendance; members must attend at least four of the seven meetings | About four hours a month for the board meeting plus a monthly coaching call, with a commitment to at least 12 meetings a year |
| Organized as | Forum-based, Chapter-based, Event-focused | Forum-based, Event-focused |
| Confidential peer forums | Yes | Yes |
| Local chapters | Yes | Yes |
| Virtual membership | Not documented | Partial |
| Online community | Yes | Yes |
| Member directory | Partial | Yes |
| Events | Yes | Partial |
| Programming | ||
| Educational programming | Yes | Yes |
| Leadership development | Yes | Yes |
| Retreats | Yes | Not documented |
| Travel | No | No |
| Family programming | Yes | No |
| Spouse and partner programming | Not documented | No |
| Next-generation programming | No | No |
| Investment discussions | Partial | No |
| Investment opportunities | No | No |
| Philanthropic component | Partial | No |
| Networking emphasis | High | Medium |
| Social emphasis | Medium | Low |
Next
Last verified: not yet reviewed
Report an error on this page
Sources
Drawn from the sources listed on each page: MacKay CEO Forums · The Alternative Board