LEADERSHIP EVOLVED
The CEO Roundtable hosts events designed to empower leaders and foster executive excellence.
Creating an Advisory Board – The Strategic Edge Smart Leaders Rely On
An Advisory Board gives founder-led and growth-stage companies access to experienced, outside expertise that helps leaders make smarter strategic decisions—without giving up ownership or control. Hear from Mark Rogers, Head of Board Practice for Robert Half, who will share his personal experience as well as other businesses that have strategically leveraged an Advisory Board to level up their growth plans. And, he’ll tell you what it takes to set one up.
Mark will cover:
- Why more private companies are turning to advisory boards to navigate growth, complexity, and uncertainty
- The key differences between advisory boards and fiduciary Boards of Directors—and why those distinctions matter
- How advisory boards provide objective insight, strategic perspective and specialized expertise without giving up control
- Practical guidance for forming, structuring, and maximizing the value of an advisory board
- Common mistakes companies make when building advisory boards—and how to avoid them
This is an opportunity to gain valuable knowledge and ask questions about the benefits and process of creating an Advisory Board.
Leading With Resiliency: Mindset Skills for Sustainable Performance
Join Rick Rittmaster, Strategic Talent Partners (STP), for a session that explores what resilient leadership requires in a business environment defined by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. Drawing from STP’s Growth Leadership Model™ and Rick’s long-standing perspective on sustainable leadership, the workshop will show how you can move beyond outdated habits to build stronger, more adaptable teams, foster healthier cultures, and create the capacity needed to sustain performance over time. Just as important, you’ll examine the real business risks and cost of not evolving—burnout, disengagement, talent strain, and declining results—and how to avoid them.
Key Takeaways:
- Why traditional leadership approaches often fall short in today’s business environment — and what to do instead.
- The costs and risks of failing to lead with resiliency to yourself, your team, productivity, performance, and long-term business results.
- Practical mindset and leadership shifts that support sustainable performance and reduce burnout risk.
*Seating is limited. See the 4/22 member email for the registration link.*
Past events
From Thought Partner to Digital Workforce A Practical CEO Perspective on Agentic AI
Agentic AI is here. Deploying it effectively—at scale and with strong governance—requires a different way of thinking about business architecture: how work is defined, how capabilities are structured, and how we govern it responsibly.
This is a practical, CEO-to-CEO session on how AI is moving from thought partner to workflow partner—and quickly toward “agentic AI.” This isn’t incremental automation; it’s a shift in how work is structured, coordinated, and scaled, with real implications for leadership and operations.
The idea on the horizon: A digital workforce working alongside our people.
Why Attend:
We’re all seeing real breakthroughs with AI—and also feeling that capabilities are advancing faster than our organizations are ready to operationalize and govern. That gap matters. This session is designed to help build clarity and confidence—so you can make smart near-term moves, ask better strategic questions, and start preparing your organization now.
You’ll leave with:
- A clear, plain-language understanding of what “agentic AI” means (and what it doesn’t)
- A clear view of the shift: Thought Partner → Workflow Partner → Digital Workforce—and what it changes for how work gets done
- A practical mental model for the “business architecture” of agentic AI—how tasks, people, and agents come together through workflows and governance
- A clearer way to think about workflows as the building blocks of agentic systems—so you can evaluate where agents fit (and where they don’t)
- Practical examples brought to life using Claude CoWork—so you can see what’s possible without needing a technical background, and how ChatGPT, Claude, and Copilot can work together in a multi-tool environment
- A sharper set of leadership questions on data readiness, guardrails, and governance to guide the right conversations and decisions
Morning Momentum: A Leadership Breakfast for Small Business Leaders
Join The Bailey Group and Lakeside HR Group for a high-impact gathering specifically designed for business owners and executive leaders who value real conversation and practical insight. This event is intended exclusively for business owners, CEOs, and company presidents to connect, share perspectives, and strengthen their leadership community. Attendance is intentionally capped to encourage meaningful dialogue and engagement.
Topics Include:
- It’s Lonely at the Top: Why Smart Leaders Feel Isolated—and What to Do About It
- Letting Go Without Losing Control: How Great Leaders Create Space Without Creating Chaos
- The Rigid Goal, Flexible Path: Stop Managing the How and Start Owning the Outcome
*Seating is limited. See the 4/24 member email for the registration link*
2026 Workers’ Compensation Seminar
Stay current on the most up-to-date developments in workers’ compensation law impacting employers. Experienced attorneys will break down key changes and practical insights to help you stay compliant and protect your organization.
Program highlights include:
- Caselaw Update: Important cases of the past year and beyond
- Anatomy of a Medicare Set Aside
- Employment Law Update
- Hot Topics in Workers’ Compensation
- Medical Presentation
- Q and A
- Full Breakfast Buffet
This is an opportunity to gain valuable knowledge and ask questions about the evolving workers’ compensation landscape.
*Click the registration link to download the agenda for the day*
Advancing Your Board Journey: Strategy, Game Plan and Targeted Networking
If you’re exploring your first—or next—paid board role, there’s a truth worth understanding clearly and early:
Boards don’t hire résumés.
Boards hire judgment.
And the path to a board seat looks nothing like an executive job search.
The CEO Roundtable, along with FEI Twin Cities and Private Directors Association Minnesota are hosting a session designed to deliver clarity on how boards actually think, how directors are actually recruited, and why accomplished CEOs can get overlooked—while others get the call.
This will be a candid, practical session led by two seasoned professionals who sit at the intersection of governance, board creation, and board recruitment:
Eric Mahler, Founder of Aretos Advisory, is a board advisor with more than 30 years of experience helping boards and executive teams navigate governance, capital allocation, and high-stakes decision-making across diverse ownership structures. (See attached or registration page for full bio)
Mark Rogers, who leads Robert Half’s Executive Search Board Practice and has spent more than two decades advising organizations on board composition, governance, and director selection across public, private, and nonprofit environments. (See attached or registration page for full bio)
Between them, they’ve built boards, advised boards, recruited directors, and been accountable to boards across PE-backed companies, public enterprises, founder-led and family businesses, and mission-driven organizations.
What you’ll gain from this session
- What different boards focus on, the topics dominating boardroom conversations today, and how all that shapes who they seek to fill seats.
- How boards find directors and the signals they actually pay attention to when evaluating potential directors.
- Why executive job search logic fails in board search—and how to approach crafting a personal, board-worthy, game plan for today’s board landscape.
- How board networking really works—and what separates visibility from credibility.
If board service is on your horizon—or already part of your portfolio—this is a conversation worth your time.
CEO Roundtable members, please use the registration link in the event email (the link for members and guests is located there).
Morning Momentum
Morning Momentum is back on February 11 for a high-impact gathering for business owners and executive leaders who value real conversation and practical insight.
Hosted by Lakeside HR Group and The Bailey Group, this event is designed exclusively for business owners, CEOs, and company presidents to connect, share perspectives, and strengthen their leadership community. Attendance is intentionally capped to encourage meaningful dialogue and engagement.
Table topics include:
- Erin Hargrove, Lakeside HR Group, Leading Through Change — How leaders create stability, trust, and momentum when everything around them is shifting.
- Kristin Nordling, Lakeside HR Group, Interview Process: Finding the Sweet Spot — How to balance speed, input, and confidence so hiring decisions move forward without dragging on — or missing the mark.
- Mickey Moore, The Bailey Group: Calm on the Outside, Pressure on the Inside — Emotional intelligence as the leadership skill that keeps pressure from leaking.
- Jim Willenbring, The Bailey Group, Stuck in the Weeds — Exploring why many CEOs struggle to step out of day-to-day decisions and how that choice quietly limits growth.
Date and time: Wed, Feb 11, 2026 from 7:30-9:30AM
Cost: $20
Register for Morning Momentum: CEO Roundtable members, please see the events email that went out on 2/2/26 and use the registration link located at the bottom of the email.