Austin Executive Summit
Thursday, March 26, 2026 7:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. CDT
Event Overview
Every Decision, Obstacle, and Success Has Shaped the Leader You Are Today
The Vistage Executive Summit is your day to build on that experience through expert insights, meaningful peer connection, and practical tools that drive growth.
My biggest takeaway from the Vistage Executive Summit is the importance of aligning long-term planning with both business goals and personal well-being. Success isn’t just about short-term wins—it’s about building something sustainable over time. When both areas are nurtured, they reinforce each other, leading to more consistent progress and a better quality of life.
— Davinder Harcharan Singh, Vistage member and 2025 Executive Summit attendee
Steve Baker Invites You to Attend
Event Speakers
Michael Feuz
Economist, ITR EconomicsOutlook for 2026 and Early 2027
ITR Economics’ outlook for 2026 and early 2027 offers critical insights for business leaders preparing for the next phase of the economic cycle. While early 2026 is expected to bring a mild rising trend, ITR’s leading indicators suggest that momentum may fade for some industries as the year progresses and into 2027. Understanding these shifts will be essential for strategic planning and decision-making.
We will examine expected changes in GDP and Industrial Production growth, helping leaders anticipate market turns, manage risk, and understand industry-specific impacts.
With clear guidance on how to navigate the coming landscape, you will be better equipped to make informed decisions and stay ahead of industry peers throughout the next stage of the business cycle.
Steve Baker
President, The Great Game of BusinessQuality Time Remaining
Knowing how long the game will last radically changes how you play. Quality Time Remaining ™, is a personal blueprint aligning your focus, energy, and resources to create your highest quality of life in the time you have left…whether you're 25 or 75. Participants will take away the tools to create their own QTR ™ 90 Day Action Plan to prioritize their fulfillment, happiness, and satisfaction. BEFORE all the distractions, procrastination, and obstacles that an ordinary life will throw at them. And who wants ordinary?
YETI
Roy Seiders, Co-Founder of YETI | David Schnadig, Co-President of Cortec Group and Managing Partner of YETI CapitalYETI – The Building of an Iconic American Brand
Born in Austin, YETI exploded from a ground-breaking line of coolers delivered from the back of a pickup truck into one of the most recognized outdoor brands in the world. In this presentation, YETI Co-Founder Roy Seiders and Cortec Group Co-President Dave Schnadig, will share insight into the company’s origin story and the pivotal role private equity played in professionalizing the business, diversifying the product line, and scaling operations. You’ll gain practical inspiration from a hometown legend on how the right strategic partnerships can accelerate growth and unlock new possibilities for your business.
Anne Petrik
VP of Research, Vistage Worldwide, Inc. | Summit EmceeInflection Point: Growth at the Speed of Now
To navigate through inflection points in the business cycle, Vistage Research reveals that CEOs must focus on growth, talent, infrastructure and technology. Learn insights and sentiment from your peers as well as expert perspectives from trusted Vistage community experts in this presentation featuring the latest Vistage CEO Confidence Index data.
A deep dive into the economic forecast facing your market.
See below for a full listing of breakouts
See below for a full listing of breakouts
Quality Time Remaining
Celebrate your community's Vistage Member Excellence Award winners and finalists and connect with fellow peers. Refreshments to be served in the Marketplace.
Breakout sessions
11:15 - 12:15 PM
From Stuck to Scaling: The CEO Blueprint for Exponential Growth
Presenter: Howard A. Lim, Business and Brand Architect™, Vistage Speaker and Ambassador | HOW CREATIVE®
Most companies plateau because strategy, brand, and customer experience are misaligned. This session gives CEOs a proven blueprint to diagnose growth barriers and recalibrate for scalable success. Learn how to create alignment, eliminate friction, and drive exponential performance with precision.
Key Takeaways:
- Diagnose root causes of stalled growth
- Align strategy, brand, and customer experience
- Apply a system for scalable revenue and value
Topic: Sales & Marketing
11:15 - 12:15 PM
High Stakes Without Mistakes: Hiring Right the First Time
Presenter: Ben Murphy, Vice President | Titus Talent Strategies
When stakes are high, hiring mistakes are costly. Misaligned roles, rushed decisions, and incomplete data quietly derail growth. This session equips leaders with a framework to find A-players, reduce hiring risk, and make confident decisions, ensuring the right people in the right seats from the beginning.
- Seat, Search, Selection: Align skills, values, and ambition with your culture.
- Insight-Driven Hiring: Combine data and human intuition.
- Strategic Talent Pipelines: Build talent proactively.
Topic: Human Resources & Personnel
11:15 - 12:15 PM
The Value Creation Formula: Build the Company Everyone Wants to Buy
Presenter: Jim Canfield, VP of Strategic Relationships | Class VI Partners
For most company owners the value of their business is the most significant asset they hold. In fact, recent research showed that for most business owners their ownership in the company represented 85-95% of their net worth. So, the question we face as owners is how we accomplish three objectives:
- Creating a growing and scalable business
- Increasing the value of the business
- Making the business easier and more fun to run and lead
Jim will present a formulaic approach to address these three objectives and will explore concepts and tools that when applied produce results.
Topic: Merger & Acquisition Advisory
11:15 - 12:15 PM
The CEO’s Guide to Building a High-Performance Sales Culture
Presenter: Frank Niekamp, Partner | SalesStar
Most sales teams don’t struggle because of effort—they struggle because of unclear plans, inconsistent processes, and gaps in leadership and talent. In this session, CEOs will learn the three essential drivers of a high-performance sales organization: clarity, leadership, and putting the right people in the right roles. Attendees will leave with practical insights they can immediately apply to create more predictable, consistent revenue growth.
Topic: Customer Engagement - Sales
1:10 - 2:10 PM
Activating Purpose In Your Brand, Marketing and Culture
Presenter: Aaron McClung, Founder & CEO | AM Agency
Is your purpose a powerful idea, or a powerful force? The disconnect between your brand and culture erodes growth and talent. Most leaders know purpose drives growth, but few know how to activate it. This session provides the blueprint to operationalize purpose across your business.
Learn to:
- Pinpoint your unique purpose
- Transform your brand into a magnet for talent and clients
- Shorten the sales cycle, increase valuations, unify your workforce
Topic: Customer Engagement - Marketing
1:10 - 2:10 PM
How To Keep More of the Money You Make
Presenter: Kimberly Ellis, Strategic Partnerships | Fisher\SMB
High earning business owners typically face a common problem—As income grows, so does your tax bill. While we can’t completely eliminate your taxes, we can show you how to leverage your retirement plan to significantly reduce your tax bill. In this session you’ll learn IRS-sanctioned strategies that allow you to keep more of the money you make:
- Create a tax shelter for up to $400,000 of earned income per year
- Diversify the tax treatment of your retirement income
- Pay yourself instead of Uncle Sam
Topic: Financials - Financial Management
1:10 - 2:10 PM
How Operational Value-Add Should Work in PE: A Guide for Founders
Presenter: David L. Schnadig, Co-President | CORTEC Group & William Blair
You’ve built a great business—yet most of your wealth remains locked up. You may be interested in taking chips off the table but only with a partner who can truly unlock value and accelerate your company’s growth trajectory. This session draws on 30+ years of experience investing alongside founders and offers a candid look at what makes a private equity relationship successful—and how to avoid a mistake.
Takeaways:
- Real-world founder success stories
- Examples of value-enhancing initiatives across strategy, people, systems and processes
- A framework for evaluating PE firms, including the key questions to answer before taking outside capital
Topic: Financial Services
1:10 - 2:10 PM
Turn AI Into a Profit Machine Using Just 3 Apps
Presenter: Adam Lyons, Chief Revenue Officer | ChiefAIOfficer.com
Turn AI Into a Profit Machine Using Just 3 Apps shows Vistage members how to turn AI from a distraction into measurable profit, time saved, and operational leverage, without replacing people, breaking governance rules, or buying tools they don’t need.
Adam Lyons cuts through hype, clarifies what today’s AI actually is, then teaches a CEO-level framework to speed up humans and tighten execution. Members see real examples across functions and leave knowing the one process to target, how to implement safely, and what to do next.
Topic: Technology
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