What Is the Climb?

When PMMC President Robby Shaul joined his father’s healthcare financial software and consulting firm, he knew he wanted to take the business to the next level. Like his father did years before, he joined a Vistage CEO Peer advisory group and suddenly had a whole team of peers and an executive mentor to lean into for guidance, questions, input and advice.

Jessica Meyers worked her way up to become a CEO in the male-dominated construction industry. She then joined a Vistage group to move her business forward.

In 2018, Landon Hobson’s in-laws asked him to help take their third-generation pet products business to the next level. He hadn’t considered running a company before and joined a Vistage peer advisory group to get his bearings.

Lyndie Hill founded an adventure tourism business in her hometown — and grew it to be the largest regionally. After natural disasters destroyed the company’s peak season, Hill leaned into her Vistage peer advisory group to re-envision the business and to power forward.

When Joseph Kenner took the reins as Greyston CEO, he faced big challenges. With Vistage peers and resources to draw from, he sharpened its mission, hired a new team — and cleared the way for Open Hiring® to take flight.

As CEO, I went from working in the trenches to building a fully empowered staff.

With 400 full-time employees and about Darren James leveraged several leadership roles to affect economic and social change in his community. When he was introduced to his peer group and CEO coach in 2015, he knew it was exactly the kind of support he needed to take his company to the next level.

In the last two years, Columbia Grain has grown by almost 200 people and acquired over $300 million in assets. Van Pevenage says, “Vistage has easily been a 10-times earner for us over investment.”

As a public media CEO for 37 years, Caryn always strives to be a better leader. She seeks the perspectives and experience of her CEO peers when making decisions to move her public media company forward.

With 400 full-time employees and about 4,000 contractors across North America, HCSS plays a critical role in helping to build the backbone of this country. The company surpassed $100 million in annual revenue in 2020 and continues to grow, expand and thrive.

Braydan Shaw is the 6th generation owner and president of Burns 1876, a 146-year-old western retail and manufacturing company — the longest-running family-owned business in the industry. With all that responsibility comes some unique challenges and Shaw is not about to let anything slip on his watch. In a family business like his, Braydan points out that it’s easy to have blinders on and to continue doing things the way they’ve always been done — which is one of the reasons he joined Vistage.

While pursuing a law degree by night, JC Maldonado founded a mergers and acquisition company by day. Now, BizGro Partners is at $240M in annual revenue with 1,200+ employees and a market value upwards of $350M. JC joined Vistage in 2019 because he wanted to be around other entrepreneurs, partner with them and learn from them.

Michael’s father, Herman, founded H. J. Russell & Company over 50 years ago as a plastering business. The company grew into the nation’s largest African American-owned construction-services company — defining the Atlanta skyline with iconic structures including the Olympic Stadium, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, and the Georgia World Congress Center.

Hogan, the CEO and co-founder of Hunt a Killer, has used great stories to grow revenues at his company from $132,000 in 2016 to more than $27 million in 2019. This year, revenues are on track to exceed $50 million.

A West Point graduate, Shaun Castillo exited the Army in 2005 with no formal business education but with a strong desire to start a company with his dad, an entrepreneur. They founded Preferred Technologies, a security integration company. Learn how Castillo formed “instant trust” with his group of peers and learned how to openly discuss his weaknesses and ask for help.