HBS Alumni Forum Your Personal Board of Directors
For accomplished leaders, the hardest conversations often have no place to happen. Forum changes that.
Book a Discovery CallYou've built something meaningful. You've succeeded by most measures.
And yet.
There are things you're carrying — at work, at home, inside yourself — that don't have a place to land. Crossroads where the right path isn't clear, and the people around you either can't relate or have too much at stake to be fully honest.
And it's not only the hard things. Sometimes it's a triumph you can't fully share — a windfall, a breakthrough, a moment of pride — because the people closest to you are too involved, or might not understand what it took to get there.
What if you had a small group of peers — accomplished, thoughtful, bound by confidentiality — who could hold all of it with you? The struggles and the successes. The questions that don't have easy answers.
That's Forum.
What Forum Is
A confidential peer group for the conversations that matter most
HBS Alumni Forum is a group of 8–10 fellow Harvard Business School graduates who meet monthly to share what's really going on — in their work, their families, and their inner lives. Personal crossroads, questions about purpose and meaning, the challenges of parenting and partnership, what it means to lead well — it's all on the table.
Forum is peer-led, carefully structured, and completely confidential. It operates in conjunction with Harvard Business School alumni clubs, bringing this proven methodology to HBS graduates across the country.
Members often describe Forum as unlike any other HBS experience — and many stay for years, even decades.
Most HBS alumni events involve casually socializing with other alumni. In contrast, my HBS Alumni Forum has been the most impactful HBS-related experience I have had since graduating, allowing for far deeper and meaningful conversation.Marc Zablatsky, MBA 1992 Former President, HBS Association of Boston
Is This for You?
Forum is for you if
- You want a space where you can be fully honest — without managing perceptions
- You're navigating decisions where the stakes are high and the right answer isn't obvious
- You're asking bigger questions — about meaning, purpose, and what comes next
- You value relationships built on depth and trust, not transactions
- You're ready to show up for yourself and your peers over years, not months
My Forum has helped me become a better president, a better husband, a better father, and a better person.John Macomber, MBA 1983 HBS Faculty
What Makes This Different
Why Forum works
Structure creates depth
Every meeting follows a proven format refined over decades of peer forums worldwide. There's a rhythm: check-in, updates, presentations, experience sharing. This discipline is what gives Forum its power. It's what allows a group of busy people to sit down once a month and go straight to what matters. The format is what makes real depth possible, meeting after meeting, year after year.
Experience sharing, not advice
Instead of offering opinions, members share from their own experience — what they actually faced, what they actually did, and how it actually felt. This takes practice, especially for executives who are used to solving other people's problems. But experience sharing is what creates the safety for people to bring what they're actually wrestling with. And it opens the conversation beyond the person presenting — some of the most powerful moments in Forum come when someone else's story unlocks something you hadn't yet put into words for yourself.
Peer-led, professionally supported
A fellow member serves as moderator — preparing the agenda, guiding conversation, and holding the space. Every member has the opportunity to serve in this role, which rotates every year. Moderators receive quarterly training alongside moderators from other Forums, monthly support calls, and access to experienced facilitators when they need guidance.
Confidential, without exception
The trust members place in each other is total. What's discussed in Forum is never shared outside of it — not the details, not the identities, not the substance. Members may mention a general topic in passing, but the content of what's shared belongs only to the room. This is the culture of Forum, and it's what allows people to bring the things that matter most.
Long-term
The deepest value comes from years of showing up with the same people — watching each other navigate promotions and setbacks, health challenges and family milestones, reinventions and reckoning. Some members have been in Forum for fifteen years. Over that kind of time, Forum members become something rare: people who truly know you.
What's shared in Forum stays in Forum.
This isn't a guideline — it's the foundation everything else is built on. Confidentiality is absolute, and Forum members protect each other's trust without exception.
HBS Alumni Forum has been the most meaningful learning and growth experience I have had since graduating. My Forum group has been an accelerant to my professional growth — and as much or more to my personal growth.Mike Weinbach, MBA 2000 CEO of Consumer Lending, Wells Fargo
The Investment
Forum membership
There is also a one-time orientation fee of $600, which covers initial placement, training, a facilitated first meeting, and additional support as your Forum gets started.
Retreat costs vary by venue and facilitator travel.
Many members find Forum reimbursable as professional development through their employer.
Comparable peer group memberships — such as YPO, Vistage, and Chief — typically range from $10,000 to $20,000 per year. HBS Alumni Forum offers a comparable experience at a fraction of that cost, operating in conjunction with alumni clubs rather than as a standalone organization.
HBS Forum has been a life-changing experience. It provides a diverse, engaged group of alumni the chance to develop professionally, explore solutions to business problems, and grow as a leader. In the process, I've gotten to meet alumni in other industries and career stages who have become trusted advisers and close confidantes.Lilly Beshore, MBA 2013 Forum Member, HBS Club of Colorado
The Rhythm
Inside a Forum meeting
Most meetings follow a common rhythm. The combination of structure, confidentiality, and a shared language of experience rather than advice is what allows members to go deep.
Check-in
Members arrive, silence devices, and reaffirm confidentiality. The moderator asks whether everyone is able to be fully present and trusting today. If something is in the way, it gets named.
Updates
Each member shares a brief overview of what's most significant right now — what's in their top 5% or bottom 5% across business, family, and personal life. The highs as well as the lows. These updates often surface the topics that will become the meeting's presentations.
Presentations
Typically two members present, each bringing a real situation to the group — a crossroads, a dilemma, something unresolved. Some presentations are prepared in advance, with the presenter working with a fellow member beforehand to get ready. Others emerge spontaneously from the updates. In both cases, the group asks questions to understand, not to solve. Then each member shares from their own experience. The presenter gets the last word.
Reflection
At the close, members share what they're taking away — not just from the presentations, but from the entire meeting. Often the deepest insight comes from a moment you weren't expecting, during someone else's story.
The Structure
How Forum is organized
Monthly meetings
Forums meet for 3–4 hours each month — in person or via video. Members are expected to miss no more than two sessions per year. That kind of consistency is what makes depth possible. It's also what builds the trust that allows people to bring what matters most.
Annual retreat
Once a year, Forums gather for a day and a half with a professional facilitator. Members share meals, spend informal time together, and do deeper work than a monthly meeting allows. These retreats deepen relationships as much as they deepen the conversation.
Rotating moderator
Forums are composed of 8–10 members, with one member serving as moderator at a time. The moderator prepares the agenda, guides conversation, and holds the space. This role rotates every year, and every member has the opportunity to serve.
Thoughtful composition
Forums are assembled with care — balancing industry, background, and perspective to create a group where every member can speak freely and learn from people whose experiences differ from their own.
California Forum Leadership
Meet the people behind your Forum
Gary Antonick
YPO/HBS Forum FacilitatorGary has spent over 25 years as an executive coach, focused on breakthrough thinking — the shift in perspective that changes everything. His work centers on helping leaders find meaning and connection after achieving conventional success.
Patience Shutts
Master FacilitatorPatience leads Forum retreats that members describe as transformational. A licensed therapist and YPO Certified Forum Facilitator, she has worked with over 250 forums across six continents and won two YPO international awards.
Bob Halperin
Founder, Alumni Forum ServicesBob created the HBS Alumni Forum program in 2009, inspired by his experience as Chief Education Officer at YPO. He has launched over 75 HBS forums and co-authored the Harvard Business Review article on peer support groups.
This is by far the most valuable part of my HBS alumni experience. With coaching from my forum, I'm a better business leader, a better spouse, and a better parent.Zander Packard, MBA 1997
Ready to explore?
The first step is a conversation. Book a discovery call to learn more about Forum, ask questions, and explore whether this is the right fit.
Book a Discovery Call