The past few years have brought a vast array of challenges for leaders – from emerging technologies like AI and an evolving social and cultural landscape to adapting to return-to-office policies and changing workplace norms. Recognizing that navigating these issues can be particularly isolating for senior executives, Chief, the largest network of senior executive women, created ChiefX - an event designed to convene the Chief community in person in Palm Springs and provide an immersive experience for members to raise challenges, discover new opportunities, and gain insights and valuable lessons from their trusted peers and world-renowned leaders and experts.
Since launching in 2019 and transitioning to a largely digital model during the early stages of the pandemic, Chief’s members were eager to connect in person. During the three-day conference, Chief wanted to facilitate deeper insight-sharing among members, provide engaging and inspiring programming from some of the world’s foremost leaders, and equip attendees with tools and learnings they could use to navigate their day-to-day challenges as leaders.
And to extend the power of this experience, Chief also hosted local, one-day ChiefX conferences across more than 8 cities, including New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Los Angeles. Chief X Local was designed to inspire and help members strengthen their leadership capabilities through conversations and workshops led by the best and brightest in business and leadership.
In convening Chief’s members from across the country in person for the first time, Chief’s ambition was to bring together some of the greatest female leaders to help share insights and practices that would enable them to lead more effectively and maximize their impact. Central to this work was recognizing that the very challenges that senior leaders encounter each day evolve rapidly. One of the biggest obstacles was ensuring that ChiefX’s programming was engaging, relevant, applicable, and addressed the wide variety of needs of senior executive women while also allowing them enough time to connect and network organically.
To achieve these goals, Chief’s plan of execution involved hosting a broad range of speakers and partnering with brands whom members could learn from and relate to, and who reflected the diversity of the Chief community. Leveraging the power of the Chief network, we secured speaking sessions with some of the world’s most inspiring leaders, including author and political leader Stacey Abrams, the most decorated American Track and & Field Olympian of all time and Saysh co-founder Allyson Felix, Emmy Award-Winning journalist Ann Curry, then-Slack CEO Lidiane Jones, renowned brain coach Jim Kwik, as well as financial leader and founder of Ellevest, Sallie Krawcheck.
Chief members represent more than 10,000 companies and 77% of the Fortune 100. Given they are extremely busy leaders who are judicious with their time, the Chief team had to demonstrate the ChiefX value proposition and ensure members found the 3-day and 1-day experiences valuable and worth the travel and time commitment required. The sessions and workshops ranged from topics including navigating career transitions and leading through turbulent times, to negotiation and AI integration in your business. The team was encouraged to see members found the sessions to be tremendously engaging, with nearly 2,000 members attending.
To supplement these engaging sessions, ChiefX’s agenda featured fun and dynamic programming powered by celebrated leaders and brands to encourage members to connect in new ways and network organically. This included wellness programming ranging from yoga sessions, tennis clinics, and meditation sessions to a 5K run/walk and poker lessons. These activities were fueled by partnerships with leading brands such as Daily Harvest, Supergoop, Hilton, Stuart Weitzman, and Oleada.
In line with its goal to create a lasting and memorable experience for its members, Chief partnered with Allyson Felix and her iconic shoe company, Saysh, to launch the limited edition Saysh Three sneaker. Designed exclusively for Chief during ChiefX, the Saysh Three bears the Chief logo as a symbol of the company’s mission to support and maximize the impact of senior executive women – through the multitude of roles they so often bear. Over two days of ChiefX, more than 730 pairs of the Saysh Three sneakers were sold.
ChiefX’s impact was shared broadly across national and top-tier media outlets, helping to elevate the mission of Chief as well as the valuable lessons shared by its influential speakers. MSNBC, Bloomberg, and WWD all reported on the events and attendees of the conference.
ChiefX had a lasting impact on Chief members as they seek to lead more effectively and maximize their leadership impact. ChiefX earned a 100% customer satisfaction score from attending members, with 99% of attendees saying they made a meaningful connection throughout the in-person conference. Member feedback was overwhelmingly positive, highlighting the valuable insights they received for their day-to-day role as leaders, as well as the meaningful lessons they learned from listening to the event’s inspiring speakers.
Nearly 2,000 Chief members across the country participated in ChiefX events, and word spread within the Chief community and beyond about the power of bringing together great minds for a few days of networking and space to reflect. Additionally, five members of top-tier and influential media outlets participated in ChiefX, amplifying the mission of both the company and the event broadly across key audiences.
Chief’s mission is to equip senior executives with the resources and insights they need to navigate today’s and tomorrow’s challenges. The impact achieved through ChiefX helped achieve this mission by engaging new audiences and continuing to expand the power of the Chief community. Following the success of the inaugural ChiefX summit in 2023, we will be hosting our second annual ChiefX series in 2024.
