Two-in-a-Box Co-CEO Leadership Model
This year marks our golden anniversary. On September 26, 1967, a family dream to build a business within the travel industry became a reality. It started small with the hard work, dedication, integrity, and commitment of the Neider family. Fifty years and three generations later, we have successfully grown, changed, innovated and expanded, but made sure to never lose sight of what’s most important – our people and our customers.
As we position M&IW for the future, we saw an opportunity to better align our chief officer roles. “Sometimes referred to as two-in-the-box, the unusual structure can provide increased scope and broader capacity,” Joseph L. Bower, a management professor at Harvard Business School, told Business Insider. Jean Johnson, CMP, Co-CEO and Chief People Officer, and Tina Madden, CPA, Co-CEO and Chief Customer Officer, are true partners in the operational excellence and strategic vision of M&IW. While most companies adhere to more traditional C-level roles, this structure allows Tina and Jean to better complement each other’s strengths and maintain a balanced line of sight for the organization.
In the past five years, through organic growth our organization doubled the number of employees who joined our M&IW family. In 2013, as part of our global expansion, we opened in the UK and changed our company name to Meetings & Incentives Worldwide. In 2014, we made the Inc. 5000 list as one of the fastest growing, privately-held companies in America. However, not everything changed. We have been able to maintain a flatter organizational structure with a 60% virtual workforce model that enables us to be more agile, keep the lines of communication open, and increase collaboration with our employees, customers and suppliers.
Within Jean’s role as Co-CEO and Chief People Officer, she will oversee Global Operations, Talent Engagement and Information Services & Security. Whereas, Tina as Co-CEO and Chief Customer Officer, will be responsible for Sales & Marketing, Global Enterprise Solutions and Finance. Within these departments, we have functional areas or “Circles of Excellence” with individuals grouped by roles and responsibilities, not necessarily titles. We feel it allows for distributed decision making while giving everyone the opportunity to work on what they do best and serve our customers.
Jean and Tina are true leaders! They have been recognized as trailblazers and women pioneers for their contributions to the meetings and events industry. We are very excited for their expanded roles as Co-CEOs and what the future will bring to Meetings & Incentives Worldwide under their direction.