Stephen H Baum Leadership

NYC VISTAGE CEO GROUP

A is CEO of an innovative staffing and workforce management services firm with revenues of over $350 million in the U.S. and Europe. For an impressive list of blue chip clients, the firm executes contract recruiting of an entire department or function of new client employees, provides entire departments of associates who remain on the firm’s payroll, as well as temporary and direct-hire staffing. She is an experienced entrepreneur, having founded a similar firm, grown it to $250mm and sold it as well as survived both downturns and prosperity and the vicissitudes of foreign ownership.

B is CEO of a truly global metals company with $5Bn in revenue in distribution and logistics for mining companies and in trading. He is well into the process of morphing the company into a merchant bank with its own hedge fund as well as participation in wealth-creation with owners of the source materials.  He is entrepreneurial not only in leading his company, but also in addition to his “day job,” in co-founding and serving on the board of hi-tech start-ups in other fields. He is self-described as eager to continue learning and has a natural ability to sort through and develop a framework and context for a wide variety of situations.

C is CEO of an employment information and testing services firm, a meteoric company which will hit and pass $200mm in sales via both acquisitions and organic growth. A lifelong learner, he has transformed his firm into a technology company with operations in both the U.S. and India. He previously received a prestigious Entrepreneur of the Year award for growing his firm from a small family business to a top-ranked company in his industry. As with other members, he is very good at rapid, candid give and take.

D recently retired as CEO of a public industrial company with about $1.1 billion in sales and 2500 employees. He is now Chairman of a $25mm not for profit. He is a wise, calm-under-fire leader who built the industrial company from its heritage as a small spin-off of a large company more than twenty years ago. He opened the company’s plant in China as well as plants in Eastern Europe. He has taken every sort of survival training the Navy offers and was a naval aviator. He has seen all sorts of challenges in his career. When he speaks, people listen.

E is the president of a major university, leading its significant turnaround and transformation. Having been general counsel of a securities firm, then an insurance company and co-chairman of the Corporate Department of a top tier law firm, he also served as a commissioner of the SEC. He brings to the table a diversified set of experiences, a sense of history and a quiet sense of humor.

F runs the $300mm health benefits side of a private venture. He was CEO of a health care maintenance firm with revenues of $10Bn. He is a veteran health care consultant and insurance executive with a first-hand view of how all constituents participate with each other. He has been responsible for strategy, product delivery, sales and service for commercial clients with more than five million members. He is public in his passion for health care reform and health care quality. He brings to the table a compulsive candor, a sense of humor shared with readers of his local newspaper column and the cultural experience of having lived outside the U.S. He is now the driving force of a health care insurance broker owned by a leading private equity group.

G is founder and CEO of an asset management firm, investing tens of billions of dollars on behalf of institutional investors. The firm specializes in value investing and has retained through the current crisis most of its clients of the past twenty years. He has the perspective of working with public companies during multiple economic cycles, the ability to articulate complicated businesses and issues in simple terms, a quiet confidence and a caring approach to challenging others’ beliefs and assumptions.

H is again CEO of a major medical system. He is also the founder and CEO of an internet company in the health care space. Previously, he was CEO of a $1.5Bn medical center with 6500 employees, which he transformed in clinical care quality, patient satisfaction and financial results. He is a nationally recognized medical executive and author on how patients can better interact with their doctors. One of several contrarians in the group, he brings fresh perspective to each discussion.

J is majority owner and CEO a collection of home and commercial re-modeling businesses with revenues of about $65mm and has succeeded with acquisitions which could double the size of his window-business. Recently he was CEO of a publicly held internet firm with revenues of about $100mm which he steered through a hostile proxy contest, tripling EBITDA and selling to a West Coast private equity firm. He is an outside-of-the-box thinker, a professional comedian and lecturer. He is an unusual combination of a deal guy and an operating guy.

K previously ran a $200mm wealth advisory/tax advisory practice at one of the world’s largest CPA firms. When that firm divested its practice for regulatory reasons, he re-located to another global CPA firm where he is leading its growth in serving financial advisors, private bankers, senior executives of corporate clients and family foundations. He is thoughtful, eager to grow his business and himself to a higher level. He understands a great deal about leaders of large businesses through the lens of serving them. He brings a unique perspective to the table because he is an expert in tax and regulatory matters, including cross-border issues. As is the case for other members, he is a believer in total citizenship, he is active on several not for profit boards in education and the arts.

L is both the chief consumer officer of one of the largest media companies and runs line operations with 2000 people. He was CEO of a $500 mm mainly ad-supported media brand business with magazines, TV shows and web commerce sites. He is thoughtful, calm and patient with great interpersonal sensibilities. He brings a unique perspective as both the youngest member of the group and someone who knows the values, attitudes and behaviors of different demographic segments.

M is CEO of a firm that provides full service communications solutions to small cap and mid cap corporate clients. The scope encompasses voice, data and video across all technologies. Together with a sister company which operates as a local exchange carrier in its niche, total revenues are at a run rate of almost  $40mm. A third company now offers business intelligence software. M and his business partner co-founded the first two companies in 1992 and run them in tandem. M brings to the table a keen interest in continuous improvement of management practices, an appetite for business and personal growth and a dry sense of humor as well as an in-depth knowledge of telecommunications. While all our members put family as a high priority, B has made work life balance a reality.

N is CEO of a restaurant group with properties in the U.S. and the Caribbean. He is both a deal-maker and the leader of a team that is growing its revenues soon to $100 million and its presence in major markets as a family, value restaurant while raising its back of house capabilities to match those of the large chains.

O leads a single-product-family retailer with clicks and mortar: over 700 consumer-facing stores, 2800 employees, and multiple websites that generate significant sales. Total sales are approaching $1Billion in the next couple of years. He has built a network of dozens of corporate clients and sponsors and transformed the company from a regional business to a national business. While his education and background are in the law and he is an expert in labor and bankruptcy law, he brings to the table the spirit of the results-oriented entrepreneur, experience of serial acquisitions, a highly direct style and a sense of humor.

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We seek nominees who bring additional business diversity and personal diversity to the group, but also the same values, appetite for personal and enterprise growth, desire for open sharing and personal qualities. A sense of humor is cherished. We are especially interested in maintaining a mix of leaders of complex, global, public companies along with successful entrepreneurs in transition to professional management.