Chief Executive Network

Chief Executive Network runs facilitated peer advisory groups for chief executives of US companies, organised by industry and company size rather than purely by geography. It operates two formats: national industry networks, whose members meet in concentrated two-day sessions at airport-hub cities several times a year, and local boards that meet quarterly for half a day. A separate cross-industry programme, the CEO100 Network, serves chief executives of companies above $100 million in revenue, with sub-groups banded at $100-500 million, $500 million-$1 billion and $1 billion-plus. Members are placed with non-competing peers of comparable scale; CEN says candidates are vetted for scale, strategic maturity and competitor-free status. Membership includes benchmarking research on growth, pricing, profitability and executive compensation, workshops, national summits and a subscription to Chief Executive magazine. CEN is a division of Chief Executive Group, the publisher of Chief Executive, and also operates the Senior Executive Network for members' direct reports.

How it works

Members are matched to a group by industry, revenue band and region. National industry groups meet twice a year for two-day sessions; local boards meet quarterly for half-day sessions. Between meetings members get quarterly mentor calls, online masterclasses, benchmarking reports and a CEO-matching service that CEN says connects a member with a peer who has faced the same issue within 24 hours. Groups are professionally facilitated and CEN applies a no-selling rule.

Typical member

CEN says most members run companies with roughly $10 million to $1 billion in revenue, with networks spanning $5 million to $2.5 billion. The industry concentration is in manufacturing, distribution, technology and software, architecture/engineering and construction trades.

CEN is unusual among US peer-advisory bodies in publishing a fee range at all: its own 2026 guide lists $5,500-$12,280 a year for industry networks, $26,300 for CEO100 and $6,400-$9,500 for local boards. Treat that guide with care - it is a marketing document that also profiles competitors, and its comparative figures for Vistage, YPO and EO are CEN's characterisation rather than those organisations' own disclosures. The industry-specific model is the real differentiator: benchmarking is more directly comparable than in mixed-industry forums, but CEN does not cover every sector, and a CEO in an unserved industry has no obvious route in. The time commitment is lighter than a monthly-meeting model, which suits executives who travel heavily but gives less continuity. Coverage is US-only.

Editorial analysis by Peer Group Guide editors. It is separated from the record above and follows the editorial policy.