ChairWaves

Lunch between meetings and drinks afterward are part of what bonds a peer group. So what happens when the whole group meets on Zoom? For Los Angeles, CA Vistage Chair Jed Daly, it comes down to psychological safety. Build that well, and a virtual group can be as close as one that meets in person.

A lifelong musician who has played in roughly 20 rock bands, Jed built his career in the media business before spending decades as a consultant. On this episode of the Chairwaves podcast, we get to know a true rock 'n' roll Chair. Jed shares the experiences that shaped his career, including a desire that eventually led him to Vistage: to have a positive impact on society and leave the world a little better than he found it.

The best way to contact Jed is by email at [email protected], or on his website. You can also contact him by phone at 310-717-5408.

Starting a Vistage group is hard enough, but try doing it in a city where you don't know a single person. That was the challenge facing Cathy “Fitz” Fitzhenry, now a Vistage Chair Emeritus, when she returned from Costa Rica and settled in Omaha, Nebraska. Eager to join Vistage as a member but finding no local groups, she decided to start one herself and ended up forming five, opening a market that has since grown well beyond them. Cathy credits her success to having the right energy. After mentoring dozens of Chairs and speakers, she believes leading from love, not fear, attracts like-minded people.

On this episode of the Chairwaves podcast, Cathy, who began her entrepreneurial career as a professional clown for the city of Chicago, shares why she set out to build her groups around heart-based leadership, a philosophy her members later encouraged her to turn into the first of multiple books. She also reveals why, after retiring as a Chair, she's coming full circle to become a Vistage member again. 

To connect with Cathy, join her free community, or visit her website.

What do crossing the border to Tijuana and a semiconductor company in Edinburgh have in common? For Silicon Valley area Vistage Chair Steve Lanza, both were formative stops on a career that eventually led him to becoming a Chair. In this episode of Chairwaves, Steve reflects on how years spent living and working internationally reinforced a simple truth that still drives him: people everywhere work hard to provide for their families, and building better businesses helps create better lives for those who depend on them.

Steve came to Vistage after a long executive career, including roles as CFO and COO. After he retired, he thought teaching would be his next step, but it turned out that he missed solving problems and seeing how things turned out. So he ended up building a Vistage group, a process that took longer than expected. Steve talks candidly about what makes someone a good fit for Vistage and shares the advice he'd give new Chairs trying to build their groups from scratch.

Connect with Steve on LinkedIn or via email at [email protected]. 

A.J. Mirabedini has been a CEO eleven times. After a long career building companies as well as turning them around for others, he unexpectedly found his way into leading Vistage groups in New Mexico. Now, instead of managing transactions, he's part of something that feels less like business and more like family. 

For AJ, chairing is a way to give back and invest in an amazing business ecosystem in one of the poorest states in the country. He leads his groups with compassion, helping leaders build organizations that support their employees, their families, and their communities. In this episode of the Chairwaves podcast, AJ talks about coming to New Mexico looking forward to retirement, fly fishing and camping, only to find himself building Vistage groups instead. What started as a retirement plan has turned into another career helping New Mexico's business leaders grow. 

To connect with AJ, reach out by email at [email protected]. 

Charlotte Wagner spent 30 years in the corporate world as an engineer and a leader before she ever thought about leading a Vistage group. She's now a year in as a Vistage Chair and she's learned that careful planning isn't the only thing that makes a meeting great, it's the trust the members build in each other and the range of perspectives they bring to the table. 

On this episode of Chairwaves, Charlotte talks about how being an introvert has shaped her group, drawing in members who prefer a structured, thoughtful approach, and how three decades of overdelivering for other companies eventually led her to build something of her own. Charlotte’s story is proof that you don't need a specific personality or background type to be a great Chair and impact members’ lives.

Connect with Charlotte on LinkedIn or through her website.

Stephanie Geisler didn't know what Vistage was until weeks before starting Chair Academy. No prior peer group experience, no long research phase, just a moment of clarity she trusted enough to act on. On this episode of Chairwaves, the Salt Lake City Chair talks about why she leans on intuition even though she has no shortage of data to guide her.

Stephanie has continued to trust that instinct throughout her time as a Chair. She now runs five Vistage groups, each one launched in response to what her members needed at the time. Before becoming a Chair, Stephanie co-founded a company that reached twenty-five million in revenue by year three before going on to lead the University of Utah's full-time MBA program, where she grew the share of women in the cohort from eighteen to forty percent alongside a jump in national rankings. For Stephanie, chairing isn't just a profession. It's a calling.

The best way to reach Stephanie is through email at  [email protected] or by text 801-721-4476. 

AI and automation may be reshaping office jobs, but Sacramento, CA Vistage Chair Jason Harbinson believes demand is swinging back toward the skilled trades. As AI changes the nature of knowledge work, manufacturers and repair shops are still searching for talented people to fill roles that can't easily be replaced. 

This episode of the Chairwaves podcast explores Jason's uncommon perspective as a Vistage Chair. While many Chairs reflect on lessons from past careers, he's still actively building and leading JH Motorsports, the performance auto parts company he founded two decades ago. That founder mindset carries into his groups, where he encourages members to experiment with AI instead of fearing it and creates opportunities for members across his groups to build relationships through his monthly Friday Dutch lunch tradition. The best way to connect with Jason is through LinkedIn or by email at [email protected]. 

Ask Mary Edwards how she rose from an entry-level job in health insurance to executive leadership roles at some of the biggest names in consulting, and she'll point to one thing: doing what you say you're going to do. The North Dallas, TX Vistage Chair believes reputation isn't only built by what you accomplish, it's broken by what you promise and fail to deliver, a philosophy that guided her throughout her career before she became a Vistage Chair.

On this episode of Chairwaves, Mary talks about starting out on the career path expected of her before realizing within weeks it wasn't the right fit. After a long career in consulting and a few attempts at retirement, she's now just five meetings into building her own CEO peer group, and she's already intentional about bringing together leaders with different backgrounds and experiences who have the courage to challenge one another.

Connect with Mary by email at [email protected], on LinkedIn, or by text at 412-913-5472.

Adam Harris spent eight years as the youngest Vistage Chair in the world, taking on the role at just 31 after his time as a CEO had ended. He built his group in the UK, then made the leap to relocate his family to New Zealand in 2019, stepping away from chairing when remote leadership wasn't yet an option for Vistage. Just months later, COVID hit, and virtual became the only option.

Now based in New Zealand with time split in Australia, Adam works as an EOS implementer and Vistage speaker, bringing his chair background directly into the room with clients. He's candid about who he's for and who he isn't, drawing a clear line between leaders who want surface-level conversation and those ready to do the real work. With his wife considering becoming a Chair herself and Adam eyeing a return to chairing in Australia, this episode of Chairwaves explores what staying connected to the Vistage community looks like even outside the chair seat. The best way to reach Adam is through his website or via email at [email protected].

Most people spend their careers trying to avoid hearing no's. Columbus, Ohio Vistage Chair Shannon Lee actually went looking for them. When building her first group became the hardest stretch of her career, she gave herself a goal of ten no's a week and made a game out of getting them.

Shannon spent years in education and the nonprofit world before realizing her real passion was helping leaders of leaders show up as their best selves. On this episode of Chairwaves, she gets into how she decides whether a prospective member is a good fit, and why she brought an HR leader into her CEO group to give members a perspective they'd been missing. If you're in the process of building a group right now, hearing how Shannon changed her thinking is worth the listen.

You can reach Shannon on LinkedIn or via email at [email protected]