Vistage Board of Directors

World-class advisors aligned in greater purpose.

Vistage Worldwide Board of Directors

General (R) Robert B. “Abe” Abrams

Over a 39-year career of active duty service, General (R) Robert B. “Abe” Abrams led combat troops in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan during multiple combat tours spanning Operation Desert Shield/Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. He commanded the Army’s largest formation, US Army Forces Command, with more than 750,000 soldiers and Department of the Army Civilians across all three components for more than three years. His final assignment was as the Commander United Nations Command, the ROK-US Combined Forces Command and US Forces Korea. General (R) Abrams is a board advisor for NOCTEM Health Inc, senior advisor to the CEO and board of VAYA Space and is the Vice Chairman for the Korea Defense Veteran’s Association. General (R) Abrams also speaks publicly on leadership and Korean Peninsula affairs.

He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and holds masters degrees from Central Michigan University and the U.S. Army War College.

Tom Burger

Tom Burger is Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Gridiron Capital. He has more than 25 years of acquiring and building middle-market companies. Prior to co-founding Gridiron Capital, he was a managing director of RFE Investment Partners and Butler Capital Corporation, where he acquired and built middle-market companies in the manufacturing, service, and specialty consumer markets. Previously, Burger worked as a consultant and project manager with The Boston Consulting Group out of its Chicago office. Prior to BCG, Burger was with General Electric as a manufacturing and marketing manager, a technology project consultant, and a global sourcing manager in GE’s Manufacturing Management Program. He started his career working in his family’s manufacturing business.

He currently serves on the boards of AML RightSource, Class Valuation, Erie, Esquire Deposition Solutions, Vistage, Foundation Wellness, Jacent Strategic Merchandising, Leaf Home™, The Lattice Companies, Travel Nurse Across America, Vertical Supply Group.

Burger received a B.S.E. in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science from Duke University where he played football and holds an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Secretary Maria Contreras-Sweet

In over three decades of service in the public and private sectors, Secretary Maria Contreras-Sweet has remained dedicated to promoting America’s competitiveness and global leadership. Her mission-driven career has focused on the small and medium-size business community and their ability to access capital, with inclusivity as a hallmark. Contreras-Sweet served on the President’s cabinet as the 24th administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration. Earlier, she was appointed as cabinet secretary of the California Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, and then founded ProAmérica Bank, a Latino-owned community financial institution in Los Angeles to provide capital to small and mid-size businesses.

She served on the Harvard Women’s Leadership Board, which advises the university and supports research opportunities for female professors. She was a founding director of The California Endowment, a multi-billion-dollar philanthropic foundation to help improve the health status of Californians. Honorable Contreras-Sweet has been bestowed with five Honorary Doctorates from Tufts University, Mount St. Mary’s University, Whittier College, La Verne University and California State University, Los Angeles.

Mike Duran

Mike Duran is the Founder, former CEO, and Executive Chairman of Colibri Group, a company with over 25 brands that has grown to become one of the largest professional licensure and continuing education companies in the US. Through a combination of steady double digit organic growth and accretive acquisitions, Colibri Group and its predecessor company McKissock Education have employed people first strategies to achieve a compound annual growth rate approximating 30% dating back to his initial involvement in 2004. Prior to Colibri Group, Duran was one of the Founding Partners of Alpine Investors, where he held both investing and operating roles and served on multiple boards.

He received his BA in Economics and Philosophy from Claremont McKenna College and subsequently earned an MBA from Stanford University.

Robert Finocchio

Robert J. Finocchio, Jr. is a corporate director, private investor, and part-time professor. He has been a dean’s executive professor at Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business for more than 20 years. Prior to that, he served as President, CEO, and Chairman of the Board of Informix Corporation, an information management software company. Finocchio also served as President of 3Com Systems. He is a trustee emeritus at Santa Clara University where he served on the board from 1999 to 2021, serving as chair from 2009 to 2015. He was also a venture partner at Advanced Technology Ventures.

Finocchio has previous service on 12 public and 10 private company boards, primarily in data networking, enterprise software, computer systems, and semiconductors. He currently is a director at JustAnswer.com and Skyfront, as well as Vistage.

He holds a B.S. in economics from Santa Clara University and an MBA (Baker Scholar) from Harvard Business School.

Sam Reese

Sam Reese became the CEO of Vistage—the world’s largest CEO coaching and peer advisory organization for small and midsize businesses—in 2016. Fueled by Vistage’s purpose of helping high-integrity leaders make great decisions that benefit their companies, families, and communities, Sam has propelled Vistage’s global membership to more than 45,000 executives spanning 35 countries.

Leveraging more than three decades of experience leading large and midsize organizations and advising key executives from companies across the globe, Sam is committed to achieving world-class performance by building teams with an intense focus on customer experience, creating support systems to enable healthy growth, and driving the mission, vision, purpose, and culture of companies. Sam was most recently the CEO of Miller Heiman, where he spearheaded exponential revenue growth, expanded product offerings, and facilitated strategic acquisitions. He began his career in sales and leadership roles at Xerox and British Telecom.

Sam is the published author of two books about account management, an experienced keynote speaker, and frequently featured in the media as an expert on business and leadership topics. He earned a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Colorado, where he was an All-American track athlete. Committed to lifelong learning, Sam has also completed executive programs at Stanford University and Northwestern University.

Nick Weido

Nick Weido is a Principal at Gridiron Capital. Prior to joining Gridiron Capital, Weido served as an associate at Genstar Capital, where he was responsible for transaction execution and portfolio company management. Previously, he worked as an analyst at Morgan Stanley.

Weido currently serves on the board of Cubii and Vistage.

He received a B.B.A in Finance from the University of Notre Dame, and holds an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.