By Andreas Pettersson, Founder, Leaders ADAPT
Most people who type "CEO club" into a search bar think they are looking for one organisation. They are looking for two different things, and one of the names they will find leads to a domain that is for sale.
The first meaning is general: any club where chief executives meet. The second is a specific organisation, CEO Clubs International, founded in 1977. For disclosure, the room I run at Leaders ADAPT is itself a kind of CEO club, a virtual mastermind of at most 14 members with no revenue gate, so read this as a competitor mapping the field. This page is the CEO Clubs entry in the CEO Peer Group Index.
Quick answer: A CEO club is any membership group where chief executives meet to learn from speakers and each other. The best known organisation by that name is CEO Clubs International, founded in 1977 by Joseph Mancuso, reported as invitation only with a $2 million annual sales requirement. It does not publish fees or group sizes. The ceoclubsnetwork.com domain is parked and for sale.
What is a CEO club? Two meanings, one search
A CEO club is a membership group of chief executives who meet regularly, but the format behind the name ranges from a monthly speaker dinner to a confidential peer board. That range is the problem with the phrase.
In the general sense, people use it for almost any room of chief executives. A Vistage group with a $5 million revenue line for its CEO program gets called a CEO club. So does a YPO chapter, with its revenue, headcount and age gates.
So does a local dinner where a speaker talks and owners trade cards. Those are not the same purchase. The CEO networking groups page sorts the networking end of that range.
In the specific sense, CEO Clubs is an organisation. Wikipedia describes it as a non profit membership organisation for "mid-market chief executives", founded by Joseph Mancuso in 1977. Its home page calls it "The World's Oldest And Largest" and sums up the format as "CEOs Making Money And Having Fun While Learning."
Then there is the name that confuses both. The CEO Clubs Network domain redirects to a page offering it for sale. It is parked.
A separate Dubai based organisation called CEO Clubs Network appears on an AIM Congress partner page, described as an "award-winning, membership-based international organization" with "16 years of member engagement programs", but no website is given there. If someone pitches you the CEO Clubs Network, ask which one.
CEO Clubs International, in 12 fields
The rows reflect what was readable in October 2026. The official site publishes very little beyond its home page, and its subpages block the reader I use, so third party sources carry most of the table.
| Field | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | An international network of CEO chapters with speaker meetings and travel. "CEOs Making Money And Having Fun While Learning" | Home page |
| Cost and year one | Not published. No third party figure found | Home page |
| Gates | "Membership is by invitation only, with a requirement of $2,000,000 in annual sales." Third party. Age and headcount not published | CGAA |
| Group size | Not published | Home page |
| Time commitment | Not published. Baltimore chapter: "Each month, a well-known speaker is invited" | CGAA |
| Facilitator model | Not published. Indian chapters are run by local founders | CEO Clubs India |
| Contract and cancellation | Not published | Home page |
| Format and geography | In person chapters. Countries listed include the United States, Australia, China, Greece, India, Pakistan, Romania, South Korea, Spain and Ukraine. 23 countries in 2020 press | Home page, Greek Reporter |
| Industry mix | Not published. 2020 press: members run businesses averaging about $20 million in annual sales | Greek Reporter |
| What members say | "I can only hope to learn from not only him but other CEOs in the club." A new member in 2020, member opinion | Greek Reporter |
| Founded and size | 1977, Joseph Mancuso. More than 8,000 members in 2020 press. No current count published | Wikipedia, Greek Reporter |
| Best for and not for | For CEOs of $2M+ companies who want a low structure speaker and networking club with international chapters. Not for anyone who needs a confidential peer board, published pricing or a current, verifiable organisation | Read of all sources above |
What CEO Clubs does well, and what it does not publish
It has history. Founded in 1977, it predates most of the groups in the Index, and its founder built it around learning from other owners long before peer advisory became an industry.
It is honest about the tone. "Having Fun While Learning" is printed on the front page. Nobody joins expecting a forensic review of their margins and gets a dinner instead.
It is international. Chapters across at least ten countries, by the Indian affiliate's count, give a member a door in many cities.
What it does not publish is most of what a buyer needs. No CEO club membership fee. No group size. No meeting length. No cancellation terms.
No criteria on the official site, so the $2 million sales line comes from a third party. No current member count, so the 8,000 figure is from 2020 press.
The invitation route is real: in the 2020 case, the founder personally invited the new member.
None of that is an accusation. It is a gap. A CEO weighing a five figure decision elsewhere would expect to read those terms before applying.
Who a CEO club of this kind is not for
The CEO who wants confidentiality and a working session. A monthly speaker format is learning by listening. It is not a closed room where members put a live problem on the table and get challenged on it.
The buyer who compares on terms. Without published fees, sizes or cancellation rules, CEO Clubs cannot be scored like-for-like against groups that publish them. The CEO peer group compare tool shows how much of the Index publishes its terms and how much does not.
The owner who wants a room sized for depth. With no group size published and a speaker at the front, there is no way to know if you will be one voice in ten or one face in a hundred.
The owner who has already outgrown pleasant rooms. That is the rest of this page.
The structural gap: fun is the opposite of friction
I have been a member of other masterminds. Some of them were good company. Several stayed too pleasant to be useful. Members praised each other, agreed with each other, and left with the same blind spots they brought in.
That frustration is why I run my own group hot. I push members to confront each other directly instead of defaulting to politeness. The useful sentence in a peer room is usually the uncomfortable one, and a room tuned for enjoyment trains people not to say it.
Here is the pattern I see. A pleasant room does not signal a healthy room. It often signals a room where nobody has permission to disagree. The why CEO groups become country clubs page traces how that drift happens, even in groups that start serious.
CEO Clubs does not pretend otherwise. Its own line puts fun next to learning. For an owner who wants contacts, speakers and good evenings in many cities, that is a fair offer. For an owner who needs friction on a decision, a speaker format is the wrong tool, however good the speaker.
The Leaders ADAPT room, run through the same 12 fields
I grade my own room with the same 12 fields. It is a CEO club in the general sense, and a very different one in structure. Not better for everyone. Built for a different job.
| Field | Leaders ADAPT CEO Mastermind | Source |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A virtual working mastermind for founders and CEOs, run by its founder, with no speaker programme | CEO Mastermind |
| Cost and year one | Not stated on blog pages. Talked through on a fit call | This page |
| Gates | No revenue gate and no invitation route. You need to have built something and want to be challenged | This page |
| Group size | At most 14 members | This page |
| Time commitment | A monthly virtual session plus weekly office hours | This page |
| Facilitator model | An operator. I scaled an AI company to more than 150 people, exited it to Canon, and I run each session | This page |
| Contract and cancellation | No multi year contract | This page |
| Format and geography | Virtual. Members are matched on fit, not on chapter city | This page |
| Industry mix | Home care, flooring, title services, aviation services, wellness, logistics, lending | This page |
| What members say | This site names no member, so no quote appears | This page |
| Founded and size | Leaders ADAPT, founded by Andreas Pettersson. One group, never more than 14 | This page |
| Best for and not for | For owners of $1M to $20M+ companies and post exit builders who want their plan challenged. Not for anyone looking for speakers, dinners, international chapters or a relaxed evening | This page |
The trade is visible in the table. No chapters in ten countries, no speakers, no travel. One room, a fixed agenda, and every term stated.
The club with an agenda and no speaker
The Leaders ADAPT CEO Mastermind is the working end of the CEO club range. It is virtual, holds at most 14 members, has no revenue gate, and I run it as an operator who scaled a company to 150+ people and exited to Canon.
Nobody gives a talk. Members score themselves 1 to 10 at check in, one member presents the company on a ten slide template, and the room answers five fixed prompts, including what the presenter is not seeing. Every member commits to one action with an owner and a date before leaving.
It is not for anyone who wants a pleasant evening. That is the point.
CEO club FAQ
What is a CEO club?
A CEO club is any membership group where chief executives meet regularly to learn from speakers and from each other. The phrase also names one organisation, CEO Clubs International, founded in 1977 by Joseph Mancuso. Structured peer advisory groups such as Vistage and YPO are often called CEO clubs too, though their formats differ a great deal.
What are the CEO Clubs International membership requirements?
A third party description states that membership is by invitation only, with a requirement of $2 million in annual sales. A 2020 news report put the average member company at about $20 million in annual sales. The official site does not publish criteria, fees or a join process, and no age or headcount rule is published.
How much does CEO club membership cost?
CEO Clubs International does not publish its fees, and no third party figure was found when this profile was read in October 2026. Other organisations called CEO clubs vary widely. Vistage, for example, publishes a $5 million revenue line for its CEO program, and YPO publishes its own revenue, headcount and age gates.
Is the CEO Clubs Network still active?
The ceoclubsnetwork.com domain redirects to a page offering the domain for sale, so it is parked. A separate Dubai based organisation called CEO Clubs Network appears on an AIM Congress partner page, described as an award winning international membership organisation with 16 years of member programs. No website for it was listed on that page.
How big is CEO Clubs International?
A 2020 news report described more than 8,000 members in 23 countries. The official home page lists countries including the United States, Australia, China, Greece, India, Spain and Ukraine, and the Indian affiliate describes a network spanning 10 countries. The organisation itself does not publish a current member or chapter count.
What happens at a CEO club meeting?
Formats vary by organisation. A third party description of the Baltimore chapter of CEO Clubs says a well known speaker is invited each month. Peer advisory groups instead use confidential meetings where members bring a live problem to the group. Anyone comparing options should ask whether a meeting is a talk, a networking event or a working session.
Which kind of CEO club are you shopping for?
Decide the job before the name. If you want speakers, contacts and international chapters, CEO Clubs International is the original CEO club and worth an introduction, provided you get the fees and terms in writing first. If someone offers you the CEO Clubs Network, check which organisation they mean.
If you want a room that argues with your plan, the name on the door matters less than the agenda inside it. Ask for the agenda. Then ask who is allowed to disagree.
If you want the room that disagrees, see the CEO Mastermind.
