The Alternative Board (TAB) offered Denise O’Neill an elegant exit from the corporate world when she and her husband bought the Baltimore Washington location in Maryland 10 years ago. By Lizzy Yeserski
Success Outside of Corporate America
The Alternative Board (TAB) offered Denise O’Neill an elegant exit from the corporate world when she and her husband bought the Baltimore Washington location in Maryland 10 years ago.
“I had come out of corporate America with Nabisco, PepsiCo and Reckitt,” O’Neill explained. “I had traveled a lot in my life and realized my kids were becoming teenagers. I needed to find something closer to home that would give me more control, so I could work and parent versus being in the air half the time.”
TAB presented the perfect solution, allowing O’Neill to apply business insight and passion to her local community. Five years ago, she took over the reins completely. Currently, she has over 80 members.
A membership-based organization, TAB provides business advisory services to small- and medium-sized businesses. It offers peer advisory boards, business coaching, strategic business planning and other resources designed to help owners improve their business and change their lives.
TAB’s motto, “Better Leaders, Better Businesses, Better Lives,” embraces the concept that you can achieve your professional goals without sacrificing your personal life. O’Neill has found this to be true.
“We have wonderful stickiness and great testimonials from our business owners telling us that we’re making a difference in the way they live their lives,” O’Neill said. She revels in the opportunity to work one-on-one with businesses, especially regarding succession planning and building next-generation leaders.
Every month, TAB has a peer advisory board for all members. O’Neill sits on the TAB top tier, which represents the top 12 owners worldwide. They meet for 90 minutes each month to solve challenges and share new ideas.
And it’s not all work and no play. “The last face-to-face meeting was in New Orleans. We had two wonderful days of presenting strategic plans and sharing solutions to challenges, but we also made time for fun. We made teams, and we competed against each other in making jambalaya,” O’Neill said.
As for the future? O’Neill just signed on for another five-year franchise agreement with TAB.
“I’m in it to win it for five more years at minimum,” she confirmed.
Lizzy Yeserski