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Whenever Rick Cacciatore is confronted by a vexing business problem, he has a team of fellow chief executives available to consult with. They’ll also hold him accountable in following through with the course of action he chooses.

Cacciatore, president of Iowa Dental Supply LLC in Grimes, schedules one full workday each month to meet with 13 other company presidents and CEOs who are members of Vistage International Inc., one of a growing number of roundtable groups available to executives in Central Iowa.

“It gives you an opportunity to have a roundtable discussion with people in your same position who have similar issues,” said Cacciatore, who joined Vistage a year and a half ago after finding out about it through a trade organization. “Rather than one person trying to figure out a solution to a long-term issue, you can put nine or 10 people on a problem and get some great feedback. Sometimes it’s very eye-opening. It’s done well for our organization.”

Hot trend

Central Iowa CEOs considering joining such a group to help them spark new growth in themselves and their companies will find they have several to choose from. Within the past three years, two large international CEO organizations – Vistage International and Renaissance Executive Forums – have established groups in Greater Des Moines and are seeking to expand, and a third, The Alternative Board, is seeking to re-establish a presence here.

The growth in executive roundtables isn’t surprising, said Russell Jensen, who has operated a locally based CEO forum through his firm, Jensen Consulting, for the past 13 years.

“The whole executive peer group industry has been hot nationally,” he said. “I’m not at all surprised to see national franchises reaching out into the Iowa market. I’m a big believer in the value of peer learning forums like this for executives. I’m just glad that there are so many choices out there in this market.”

Jensen currently facilitates three groups, each with about a dozen CEOs. He estimates more than 120 Iowa business leaders have participated in his groups since he began his first one in 1995. Though he doesn’t have any current plans to offer additional groups, he has received feedback about the need for groups for women CEOs and entrepreneurs.

Terry Slinde, who three years ago launched Des Moines’ first Vistage group, formerly known as The Executive Committee (TEC), is now recruiting executives for a second group.

“I’m looking for people who are more interested in growing their business than their reputation,” Slinde said. “When I’m doing the interview, I’m not selling anything. I’m seeing if they belong in the group. I’m looking for people who are serious and who are looking for a challenge.”

At the same time, a Grinnell-based business consultant, Heath Kellogg, is forming a new Vistage group in Central Iowa. He is the founder and CEO of two companies: E-valuate LLC, a software service company that develops Web-based human resources applications, and Kellogg Farms LLC, which provides USDA Choice-graded beef to select steakhouses.

“As the economy has slowed, decisions for CEOs and business owners are becoming very important,” Kellogg said. “Some of these are founded on education, research and good business sense. Some are based on reactions and emotions. Some are made by the seat of the pants. Vistage allows members to get an objective third opinion, and fresh feedback every month to make the best decision possible.”

Kellogg said he learned about Vistage through friends in Chicago, and personally experienced it as a member of a group in Kansas City. He plans to hold the first meeting of the new group later this month.

Renaissance Executive Forums, meanwhile, began operating in Des Moines earlier this year. Mike Retherford, a former insurance executive, launched the first of two groups in January and started the second one in April. He’s now recruiting executives for a third group.

“I felt there was a strong need, and I would have loved to have had a strong peer group while I was an executive,” said Retherford. Before buying the franchise, he was vice president of operations for Harland Financial Solutions Inc. in Clive, and was previously chief financial officer for ARAG Insurance Co. With Renaissance, “I’ve been fortunate to attract some really solid leaders who really care about what they’re doing,” he said.

John Viviano, a business consultant in Fairfield, had operated an affiliate of a third national roundtable organization, The Alternative Board (TAB), for six years in Des Moines. He entered semi-retirement in December 2007, and officials with the company say they are seeking a franchise owner to re-establish TAB groups in Central Iowa.

Focus on the customer

Though competitors, the organizations share many similarities in how they operate. Each hosts monthly meetings in which members take turns dissecting issues of concern, rapidly firing clarifying questions and challenging their peers to lay bare the real issues and craft strategies to address them. At the next month’s meeting, members report back to the group on the actions they took regarding the issue. The organizations’ facilitators also provide one-on-one counseling to their executive members.

Slinde, who was recruited to become a TEC facilitator after leaving a 30-year career as a Lutheran pastor, said companies, like congregations, must focus outside themselves or die.

The successful companies “focus on the customer; they risk what they have,” he said. “Basically, entrepreneurs who start worrying about killing the business are the ones who have trouble.”

The CEOs Slinde selects to participate in Vistage generally lead companies with between $5 million and $100 million in revenues and 25 or more employees, though the CEO of a smaller company could join.

“I may take a $3 million or $4 million company that has potential,” he said. “We’ve got one company up in Waverly that started with us at about $4 million, and probably in the next three years it will be a $30 million company.” The 14 CEOs he currently works with lead companies that collectively employ 1,800 people and generate $581 million in annual revenues.

Forward-thinking

Retherford learned about Renaissance from a friend, a former CEO of Rand McNally Publishing. “He called me and said, ‘You would be absolutely perfect at this,'” Retherford recalled. “I looked at the franchise and said, ‘Wow, this is me.'”

Each of the two 10-member groups meets monthly for a half-day. Retherford also meets one-one-one with each executive quarterly to discuss his or her key priorities, business objectives and any particular issues he or she may be dealing with. One group is made up of owners of companies with between 50 and 185 employees; the other consists of executives from larger companies, with up to 8,500 employees.

“I’m really looking for those CEOs who are in fast-growing companies and are interested in learning about themselves and are forward-thinking,” he said. “They know where they want to go, but may not know how to get there.”

Kim Augsperger, president and owner of Saxton Inc., joined the smaller-company Renaissance group in January.

“I like how it’s structured; it’s very organized,” said Augsperger, whose three Knoll furniture dealership locations employ about 40 people in Greater Des Moines and Cedar Rapids. “It’s really interesting to see the commonality; we all face similar issues.”