Comparison · 8 material differences
Vistage Australia and New Zealand 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 Vistage Australia and New Zealand
CEOs, business owners, founders and senior executives with decision-making authority in established mid-sized or growing businesses in Australia and New Zealand
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: Vistage Australia and New Zealand: CEO, business owner, founder or executive with decision-making authority; The Alternative Board: Business owner or leader of a privately held, growth-focused company.
- Geographic restriction: Vistage Australia and New Zealand: Australia and New Zealand; The Alternative Board: No published geographic restriction.
- Annual dues: Vistage Australia and New Zealand: Not publicly disclosed. Vistage Australia publishes no price and routes enquiries to a member advisor.; The Alternative Board: Pricing is set by each independently owned franchise and is not published centrally..
Side by side
| Vistage Australia and New Zealand | The Alternative Board | |
|---|---|---|
| Profile | ||
| Type | Peer advisory | Peer advisory |
| Founded | 1986 ("In 1986, Dr. Phil Meddings founded TEC Australia in Sydney" per Vistage's March 2024 acquisition release. The underlying TEC format dates to 1957 in Milwaukee.) | 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 | Sydney, Australia | Westminster, United States |
| Geographic footprint | Australia and New Zealand: groups in Sydney, Newcastle, Tamworth, Melbourne, Brisbane, Toowoomba, Adelaide, Perth, Auckland and Christchurch | Boards in 25 or more countries across the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australasia, delivered through independently owned franchises |
| Members | 1,000as of March 2024 | 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 | 10 | 500 |
| Primary audience | CEOs, business owners, founders and senior executives with decision-making authority in established mid-sized or growing businesses in Australia and New Zealand | Owners and leaders of privately held, growth-focused small and mid-sized companies. |
| Typical member | Members are chief executives, owners and senior executives of small and midsize companies. Vistage says the model is designed for leaders managing complexity rather than early-stage start-ups, and that placement weighs leadership role, business size and industry mix. | 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, business owner, founder or executive with decision-making authorityFrom the Vistage Australia membership FAQ: "you must be a senior leader such as a CEO, business owner, founder or executive with decision-making authority in a mid-sized or growing business".verified 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 ↗ |
| Geographic restriction | Australia and New Zealandverified September 2026 · source ↗ | No published geographic restriction |
| Invitation required | No | No |
| Sponsor required | No | No |
| Application process | Prospective members request a confidential, no-obligation conversation with a member advisor, who assesses fit against leadership role and business size and then places the candidate in a non-competing group with a specific Chair. Nomination or sponsorship is not required. | 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. Vistage says members are "selected based on leadership role, business size and ability to actively contribute" 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 | Not publicly disclosed. Vistage Australia publishes no price and routes enquiries to a member advisor.verified September 2026 | Pricing is set by each independently owned franchise and is not published centrally. |
| Monthly dues | Not publicly disclosed. | 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 disclosedverified September 2026 | Pricing is set by each independently owned franchise and is not published centrally. |
| Membership term | Not documented | Monthly billing, no binding contract; 30 days' written notice required to leave |
| Structure | ||
| Meeting frequency | One full-day or half-day group meeting a month depending on programme, plus regular one-to-one coaching sessions with the Chair | 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 | Confidential peer advisory groups of 12-16 non-competing CEOs and business owners, each led by a trained 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 | Groups are described as confidential and high-trust; Vistage's founding practice was strict confidentiality among non-competing members | Boards exclude direct competitors and operate as private advisory groups; TAB does not publish its confidentiality terms. |
| Time commitment | Roughly one meeting day a month plus a coaching session, per the published membership commitment | 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 | Yes | Yes |
| Events | Yes | Partial |
| Programming | ||
| Educational programming | Yes | Yes |
| Leadership development | Yes | Yes |
| Retreats | Not documented | Not documented |
| Travel | No | No |
| Family programming | No | No |
| Spouse and partner programming | No | No |
| Next-generation programming | No | No |
| Investment discussions | Partial | No |
| Investment opportunities | No | No |
| Philanthropic component | No | No |
| Networking emphasis | High | Medium |
| Social emphasis | Low | Low |
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Sources
Drawn from the sources listed on each page: Vistage Australia and New Zealand · The Alternative Board