The first session I attended, someone described my exact situation — down to the covenant language. I realized I'd been solving alone what a room of ten could solve in forty minutes.
Katherine Brennan
Chief Financial Officer · Harlow Industrial Holdings · $240M Revenue
The room you didn't know
you needed.
A curated peer advisory board for CFOs, controllers, and finance directors carrying $50M–$500M P&Ls — where practitioners share playbook pages, not frameworks.
6–8
Peers per cohort
$50M–$500M
P&L Range
Chatham
House rules
The cost of deciding
without a room.
Senior finance leadership is structurally isolated. The CFO doesn't have peers inside the building — the team below is looking up for answers, and the board above is evaluating, not advising.
The decisions that carry the most consequence — covenant negotiations, reforecast timing, acquisition diligence, capital structure pivots — are made in a room of one. Or handed to advisors who've never held the P&L.
This is the gap Forum was built to close.
73%
of mid-market CFOs report no trusted peer to consult on major decisions
$2.4M
avg. cost of a poorly-timed capital raise or missed covenant cure
A typical Tuesday for a mid-market CFO
The CFO
Deciding alone
Cohort Architecture
6–8
Finance leaders per cohort
No two from the same industry vertical
4×
Sessions per year
Half-day, in-person, rotating host cities
100%
Chatham House rules
What's said in the room stays in the room
0
Consultants or vendors
Practitioners only — no one selling anything
Structure that earns
the candor.
Forum cohorts are composed deliberately. Each group is built so that every member carries a P&L in the same range but operates in a different industry — which means the person across from you has solved your problem without being your competitor.
Confidentiality isn't just a policy. It's the product. Members disclose what they'd never say in a public forum — missed covenants, board friction, succession uncertainty — because the room has been designed to hold it.
Sessions are moderated by a former CFO, not a facilitator. The difference is visible in the first fifteen minutes.
We were about to restructure our credit facility under board pressure. I brought it to my Forum cohort on a Tuesday. By Thursday I had three frameworks from peers who'd done it — two of them at companies our exact size. We closed the new terms without a single outside advisor.
Margaret Okonkwo
CFO · Meridian Specialty Packaging
$180M revenue
What happens
in the room.
Sessions are not panels. There are no speakers, no slide decks, no sponsored content. The format is designed around the hot seat — one member brings a live challenge, and the group works it as peers, not as an audience.
The moderator is a former CFO who has held a P&L in the same range. Their job is to prevent advice-giving before understanding is established. The result is a quality of listening you won't find in any other room.
Former CFOs with 15+ years at the P&L level — not facilitators, not coaches.
Session Agenda
Half-day format · In-person
8:30 AM
Arrival & introductions
No agenda distributed in advance
9:00 AM
Hot seat: member-nominated issue
One member presents a live challenge; peers question before advising
10:30 AM
Structured peer exchange
Each member shares one decision in play — no presentations
12:00 PM
Working lunch
Informal; often where the most useful conversations happen
1:30 PM
Close & commitments
Each member names one action they'll take before next session
No recordings. No notes distributed. Chatham House rules in effect for all sessions.
Member renegotiated $45M credit facility terms after peer shared covenant cure playbook from a comparable transaction.
Member restructured FP&A reporting cadence, reducing board reforecast requests from six per year to two, using a framework from a peer in healthcare.
Member identified three integration risks in a $30M target that their own advisors missed — surfaced by a peer who'd acquired a similar business 18 months prior.
These people understand
your Tuesday.
The measure of Forum isn't attendance or satisfaction scores. It's the quality of decisions made in the weeks after a session — and the ones that didn't get made badly.
Members report that the most valuable exchanges happen around specific, named problems: the covenant they're about to breach, the controller they're trying to retain, the acquisition their PE sponsor is pushing them to close in sixty days.
Specificity is the currency of the room. Generalities are politely redirected.
94%
of members renew after the first full year
11 min
avg. time to first useful peer input per session
Our board wanted a full reforecast in 96 hours after a missed Q3. I'd never done one under that kind of pressure at this scale. My Forum peer from a regional healthcare system had. She walked me through exactly how she structured the narrative. I presented Friday morning. The board approved the path forward.
David Shen
Controller · Cascade Logistics Group
$320M revenue
Who sits at
the table.
Forum membership is not open enrollment. Each cohort is composed to maximize the quality of peer exchange — which means careful curation of title, P&L range, and industry mix.
CFO
$50M – $150M
Typically first CFO role or first institutional-backed role. Needs peers who've navigated PE sponsor dynamics.
Controller / VP Finance
$100M – $300M
Carrying CFO-level responsibility without the title. Needs peers who understand the gap.
CFO
$200M – $500M
Established finance leader navigating complexity: M&A, credit markets, board succession.
Selection Process
Membership is earned, not purchased. Every applicant completes a brief intake conversation with a Forum director — not to screen for credentials, but to assess whether there's a cohort where their challenges and their candor will land well. Placement typically takes 30–45 days from initial conversation.
Request a Seat
at the table.
This is not a sign-up form. It's the first step in a conversation — one that will determine whether there's a cohort where your challenges and your candor will be well-received.
We'll review your submission and reach out within five business days to schedule a brief intake conversation with a Forum director. No calendar links, no automated sequences.
What happens next
A Forum director reviews your submission personally
We reach out within 5 business days to schedule a brief call
If there's a cohort fit, we'll discuss placement timeline
Placement typically takes 30–45 days from first conversation
Request a Seat
Three questions. No calendar embed. No automated follow-up.
Secondary Path
Download the Member Charter
The full operating agreement: how cohorts are composed, how confidentiality is enforced, what members commit to, and what Forum commits to them. For the reader who needs to see the structure before raising their hand.