Early in her career, Beth Adkisson worked for the oil company Unocal, where she helped launch a wholly owned subsidiary. She describes the experience as starting a company with "really rich parents." The stakes were high, the resources were abundant, and the venture succeeded. More importantly, it flipped an entrepreneurial switch for her: If I could do this for them, she thought, I could do it for myself.
Adkisson left corporate life and started her own PR and marketing firm — with Unocal as her first client — but the leap still came with uncertainty. Around that same time, a manufacturing executive encouraged her to join his company as his second-in-command. Adkisson had sworn she would never leave her corporate roots — "I've got the '76' gas tattoo," she joked — but she accepted the role with one condition: She would continue building her own business.
The arrangement proved catalytic. One of the first things Adkisson did was develop a comprehensive sales and marketing plan. Soon after, she was invited to present that work to her CEO's Vistage peer group. Sitting in that room full of executives — talking strategy, answering questions, exchanging ideas — something clicked. These were the conversations she loved.
In the audience that day was a woman named Cristi, who would later become one of Adkisson's closest friends. Cristi asked Adkisson to develop a sales and marketing plan for her own company. One client led to another, and before long, Adkisson's firm was off and running.
Yet as the business expanded, something was missing — the collaboration she had witnessed as she presented to Cristi's group. That's when she joined Vistage. Within just a few years, her Chair, Suzanne Frindt, saw something Adkisson hadn't yet seen in herself. "You'd make a really good Chair," Suzanne told her.
In May 2000, Adkisson attended Chair Academy, where she met the man who would become her husband, fellow Chair Rick Leckey. By that following February, she launched her first Vistage group. It marked the beginning of a role that would come to define her professional life — not just as a business leader, but as a steward of community, trust, and growth.
Fast forward 25 years to the day, and Adkisson laughs in disbelief at being named the recipient of the 2025 Don Cope Memorial Award, the highest honor a Vistage Chair can receive.
“Being a Vistage Chair is not a job,” she says. “It’s my life. It’s my community. It’s my tribe. And to be recognized out of 1,400 Chairs as the one — oh my God — I am beyond honored.”
When asked what Chairing means to her, Adkisson pauses to reflect. “When I was little, I read the poem, ‘I Shall Not Live in Vain,’ by Emily Dickinson. It’s about saving one bird from falling out of the nest. Chairing is helping one person be the best they can be. And when that happens, it doesn’t get any better.”
“Beth embodies the gold standard of Chairing,” says Gretchen Martz, senior vice president for the Western region at Vistage. “She models collaboration over competition and leads with a steady strength that inspires confidence and trust. While her recognitions speak volumes, her greatest impact is felt in the way she shows up for people.”
A Best Practice Chair for Orange County, California, Adkisson has been an exceptional partner, adds Martz, always stepping in to support her fellow Chairs. That commitment was evident when a fellow Chair fell ill. “Beth was the first to step in, supporting the Chair, caring for his members, and guiding a sensitive transition with compassion and grace,” Martz says.
When Vistage CEO Sam Reese announced Adkisson’s name from the ChairWorld stage in San Diego, Adkisson was overcome with emotion. She thanked the many Chairs, mentors, and friends who supported her over the years, beginning with Suzanne Frindt, her first Chair.
“It’s been a journey,” Adkisson said onstage. “So many people have held my hand and walked with me through good times, hard times, losses, and celebrations. They’ve challenged me to be the best I can be. Where else can you find a community like that?”
