Stephen H Baum Leadership

VISTAGE NYC CEO PEER ADVISORY BOARD  MEMBERSHIP

A  is CEO of  a truly global metals company with $7Bn 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.

B  is Executive Chairman (CEO until 2019) of an employment information and testing services firm, a meteoric company at roughly $500mm in global sales via both acquisitions and organic growth. The company was $40mm when he joined a few years ago. 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. He is now buying operating companies and real estate properties in his family office.

C  is an experienced entrepreneur and turnaround leader, having founded a firm in the human capital space, grown it to $250mm and sold it as well as survived both downturns and prosperity and the vicissitudes of foreign ownership. She is now CEO of an innovative staffing and workforce management services firm with revenues of over $400 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. The firm is principally owned by private equity.

D is CEO of a restaurant group with properties in four geographies in the U.S. and also in Caribbean. He is both a deal-maker and the leader of a team he top-graded that is growing its revenues soon to exceed $125 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. He is a street-smart entrepreneur who has become a CEO.

E is founder and CEO of a publicly traded asset management firm with over $40B in funds managed 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. Recently, the firm built a new business in mutual funds distributed by major retail firms. 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.

F  is majority owner and CEO a collection of home and commercial re-modeling businesses operating in five states and with revenues in the hundreds of $mm. He has also served as interim 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 as well as entrepreneur.

 G  leads a large, top tier global law firm. He formerly was chair of their corporate practice and was lead counsel in M&A transactions, IPOs and other corporate finance. He has advised senior executives and boards of directors on governance. The firm has hundreds of lawyers in offices around the world and more than a few specialties in which it is best in breed. As a first-time CEO of a partnership, he has learned on the job and has already committed several signal acts to change the culture and change business practices. He is committed to the market-oriented transformation of the firm in an industry where the New York City top tier is the last to change. His calming, good-natured, constructive feedback to peers on their issues was already evident in his first meeting. He is active in leadership of major not for profits in New York City.

 H is first-time CEO of a large and complex array of mostly financial services for a single client: a religious institution. The enterprise has more than $12Bn in investment portfolio and a variety of service businesses. Previously, she led global tax work at the U.S. Treasury,  lead tax partner in a top tier law firm, senior management executive of a pharma company and had served in government. She brings to her position a passion for her client and for service to that client, a straightforward and firm approach and a track record for transformation/evolution of the entity she leads, including leading disparate personalities and addressing dysfunctional situations.  H until recently was Chairman of a medical devices firm. She brings her considerable experience and intellect to our table. 

I leads the major client service group of a health insurance broker owned by private equity. He was previously 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 has authored several books and a weekly column.

J leads a women’s apparel importer and distributor with a top line of about $350mm. A recent acquisition has doubled the size of the company and brought both new product segments and additional talent to the table. Together with other family members who lead the business, he has top-graded the senior team and is on a path to drive synergies and professionalizing of the operating processes. 

K is a serial entrepreneur, applying the experience, contacts and skills he acquired as a partner in a top tier investment firm. He chairs a multi-location retail business with revenues over $250mm and growing at double digit rates. He also plays a prominent role in three other early-stage companies and has been a mentor to young entrepreneurs.

L is CEO of a worldwide packaging company which he grew from a small business to one with an international footprint, factories in China and elsewhere in Asia, hundreds of millions in sales, two successive private equity owners and a strategy shift from commodity packaging to proprietary offerings to the beauty and cosmetics industry. He has top-graded his team and added to diversity in the process.

M  is CEO of a roughly $1.1 billion net revenue national media company that provides news, entertainment and other genre programming to the public. She has previously been, among other posts,  CEO of a large global media and direct marketing company, CEO of a major fashion magazine publishing company. She brings to the table a rich set of experiences in media including but not limited to roles as a board member, a CEO and as publisher. She has experienced interactions with some of the most powerful people in media.  She has enormous energy, the ability to distill to the core a complicated problem, a direct communications style and a bias toward decisions and actions.

N is CEO of a key global supplier of cosmetic packaging & color formulations to the health, beauty and personal care industry. He took he lead of the company in 1999 with then revenues of $4.0mm. Today, the company has moved to a fully vertical manufacturing platform, with 5 manufacturing plants in the USA and China, spanning over 1.6 Mill Sq. Ft. and over 2,000 in staff and a wide variety of packaging products. With revenues now approaching $250mm, and several new manufacturing innovations, along with unique products in development, all being supported by a major private equity firm, the company’s stakeholders believe the risks taken to transition to going fully vertical in foreign countries, has set the company on course to become a $1Bn enterprise in the coming 3 to 5 years.

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We were blessed with members who brought business diversity and personal diversity to the group, but also shared values, appetite for personal and enterprise growth, desire for open sharing and personal qualities. A sense of humor was evident in how often we were asked to close the door due to laughter. We maintained a mix of leaders of complex, global, public companies along with successful hi-growth company entrepreneurs in transition to professional management.

Retirements before we dissolved the group 

L’s $1+Bn national retail company was sold to a competitor. He led a single-product-family retailer with clicks and mortar: over 700 consumer-facing stores in multiple states, 2800 employees, and multiple websites that generated significant sales. 

M retired as president of a major Manhattan university after a ten-year term in which he stabilized a financially precarious institution, led major steps forward in curriculum advances to improve student readiness for professional careers, branding and marketing of the offerings to the “middle third” of the applications and instilled a pride that saw more than a few student teams winning national awards. He also broke new ground in major donations. 

Dr. David Shulkin was initially confirmed as the Under Secretary for Health Affairs of the Veteran’s Administration in 2015, more recently confirmed as Secretary for Veterans Affairs.  He was CEO of a $1Bn+ hospital and two satellite facilities. 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 and a contrarian view to discussions.

 X is a serial digital entrepreneur and CEO of an on-line eye-care company growing at 15% per month with a top-line run rate over $50mm. He brings both innovative thinking and a get-it-done mentality to marketplace opportunities. Through experience raising funds and through his network of other entrepreneurs, he has a perspective on patterns of success and failure in early stage companies as well as a point of view about disruption of established businesses. He has moved on to start and sell other companies.