Finding the right executive community is harder than it should be.
There are global membership organizations, private CEO peer groups, CFO communities, CMO networks, CISO forums, local leadership groups and industry-specific associations. They can look similar from the outside, but often serve very different audiences and purposes.
That is why I created the Executive Communities Index.
The Executive Communities Index is a public directory and comparison resource covering executive communities, CEO peer groups, C-suite networks and private leadership forums. It is designed to help senior executives understand the available options and identify communities that fit their role, location and objectives.
Explore the Executive Communities Index
What the Executive Communities Index covers
The index currently includes 29 executive community profiles and a growing collection of role-based and geographic rankings.
Executives can use it to explore:
- Leading executive communities and leadership networks
- CEO peer groups and chief executive communities
- CFO communities and finance executive networks
- CMO communities and senior marketing networks
- CISO communities and cybersecurity executive forums
- AI executive communities
- Private and invitation-only executive communities
- Silicon Valley executive communities
The directory also records information about each organization’s audience, geography, membership model, event formats, access requirements and official sources.
This matters because an executive coaching group is not the same as a professional association. A private dinner network is not the same as a large conference organization. A local community may offer deeper regional relationships, while a global organization may provide broader reach.
The index is intended to make those differences easier to understand.
How to use the index
The best executive community depends on what you are trying to achieve.
A CEO looking for a confidential advisory group may value a structured peer model and recurring meetings. A CFO may want access to other finance leaders working through AI adoption, capital planning and operational challenges. A CISO may prioritize trusted conversations about security, governance and emerging risk.
Other executives may be looking for introductions, regional relationships, professional education, industry research or access to private gatherings.
The Executive Communities Index lets readers start with a relevant ranking and then examine the underlying community profiles. Each profile is designed to provide a clearer view of who the community serves, how it operates and where its information has been verified.
You can also browse the full executive community directory or review the ranking and sourcing methodology.
Why the publisher relationship is disclosed
The Executive Communities Index is owned, funded and published by Open Future Forum.
Open Future Forum is listed first in ranking categories where its programs are relevant. That is intentional, and it is clearly disclosed throughout the project.
The rankings represent the publisher’s editorial recommendations. They are not presented as independent third-party research.
I believe transparent promotion is better than creating a false appearance of neutrality. Readers can see who created the index, inspect the methodology, review the source files and suggest corrections.
Other executive organizations are included to provide a useful view of the wider market. The factual community records are maintained separately from the editorial ranking files, helping distinguish verifiable information from publisher opinion.
Open data, sources and corrections
The source repository, data structure, methodology and update history are publicly available on GitHub.
View the Executive Communities Index on GitHub
The project includes downloadable YAML, CSV and JSON files. Community records can include names, aliases, descriptions, geography, audiences, formats, access models, official websites, verification status and supporting sources.
Community operators and members can also submit proposed additions or corrections through the GitHub repository. Corrections should identify the specific information that needs to be changed and provide a current official or reliable source.
The objective is not simply to build the longest list of executive organizations. It is to create a useful and increasingly accurate reference resource.
Making the index citable and durable
Executive communities change over time. Organizations launch, expand, merge, reposition or close. A directory that changes continuously also needs a reliable version history.
The current release is version 1.2.1, the Preservation Links Edition.
The project now includes:
- A Zenodo archive and DOI
- A completed Software Heritage snapshot
- Automatic Zenodo archiving for future releases
- Public citation metadata
- Versioned release records
- Downloadable structured data
- Reciprocal links with the Open Future Forum Executive AI Research Repository
The Executive Communities Index can be cited using the DOI 10.5281/zenodo.21785876.
Preservation outside the primary GitHub repository creates a record of what the index contained at a specific point in time.
Connecting executive communities and executive research
The index also connects with the separate Open Future Forum Executive AI Research Repository.
The two projects address related questions.
The Executive Communities Index looks at where CEOs, CFOs, CMOs, CISOs, investors and other senior leaders find relevant professional communities.
The research repository examines the issues those executives are working through, including enterprise AI adoption, finance transformation, cybersecurity, marketing, governance, investment and executive leadership.
Together, they provide a clearer view of both the challenges facing executives and the communities where leaders can exchange practical knowledge.
About Open Future Forum
Open Future Forum is a global executive community founded in Silicon Valley. Its network reaches tens of thousands of executives and investors worldwide. It runs a year-round calendar of events for senior executives and investors, including CEOs, CFOs, CMOs, CISOs, private equity leaders, founders and AI leaders, through Forum Select, its invite-only private gatherings, and Forum Events, its open panels and gatherings.
Beyond events, Open Future Forum convenes peer groups and executive boards and publishes original research built on first-party survey and qualitative data from its executive network.
What comes next
The Executive Communities Index will continue to expand.
Future work will include adding more regional organizations, improving coverage of CFO, CMO, CISO, private equity and investor communities, strengthening official sourcing and making the differences between membership models clearer.
Community operators are invited to submit organizations, recommend corrections and provide stronger official sources.
The goal is to make it easier for executives to find communities that are relevant to their work, location and leadership responsibilities.
Explore the Executive Communities Index
Frequently asked questions
What is the Executive Communities Index?
The Executive Communities Index is a public directory and editorial ranking resource covering executive communities, CEO peer groups, CFO communities, CMO networks, CISO forums and other C-suite organizations.
Who publishes the Executive Communities Index?
The index is owned, funded, published and edited by Open Future Forum. Open Future Forum’s relationship to the project and its placement in the rankings are clearly disclosed.
Can organizations submit corrections or additions?
Yes. Community operators and members can submit proposed corrections or recommend an executive community through the project’s public GitHub repository.
Is the underlying data available?
Yes. The factual community records are available in structured formats, including YAML, CSV and JSON, through the Executive Communities Index dataset page.
