Rooms where nobody performs.
Confidential peer groups only work when the room is honest. I have spent twenty-two years building and facilitating those rooms in Vistage, EO, YPO and TIGER 21, and applying the same governance discipline to organizations that outlive their leaders.
“Peer groups are an endurance sport.” From my conversation with Greg McDonough on the Chief Endurance Officer podcast, October 2026.
The book in progress
Leading the Room
What I have learned about leading rooms, from twenty-two years across Vistage, EO, YPO and TIGER 21, written down as a book for anyone who leads one: a board, a family, a peer group. It covers what to do before a room, in it and over time, with short field guides for boards, families, peer groups and dinners, and a ninety-day plan built on a five-question Room Test. Each month I send one practice from it to anyone who leads a room.
TIGER 21
- Built two private, confidential Groups from zero and recruited every Member. Chairs both, for wealth creators with $30M+ in investable assets.
- Guides Members through portfolio preservation, legacy planning, philanthropy, and major life and business transitions.
- In TIGER 21’s 2025 annual survey, with every Member responding, the Group returned a Net Promoter Score of +100, 9.9 out of 10 on likelihood to renew, and 9.5 out of 10 on Chair rating.
“Gerry is an amazing chair. He made sure the attendees were on time, engaged, and participated. As a visitor, I felt included, engaged, and at home. Gerry has curated an authentic group of energetic entrepreneurs who care deeply about each other, and who dig in to add value to one another.”
TIGER 21 Member, February 2026
“These meetings are getting better and better. Honestly it’s how our chair Gerry runs the day. He has it so dialed in and it runs like clockwork.”
TIGER 21 Member, January 2026
YPO
- Serves as Member Engagement Officer, Gold Chapter Chair, and Membership Chair.
- Steers chapter strategy, governance, and high-value learning events for executive members.
- Facilitates cross-chapter collaboration and executive forum development.
- Built his YPO Forum from zero in 2017, recruited every member and moderated it for its first five years. Still one of its eleven members nine years later.
“Gerry handed off the moderator seat years before I arrived. Three moderators later, the forum still holds the shape he gave it, and his is still one of the voices the room listens to hardest. Leading a room like that has little to do with whose turn it is to run the meeting.”
Ricardo J. Ordonez · President, Teams Plus · YPO forum member
Entrepreneurs’ Organization
- President of the Los Angeles Chapter (2007–2008).
- As Membership Chair in 2006, grew the Los Angeles chapter from 99 to 152 members in a single year. The 53 new member CEOs set a record for EO worldwide and earned him the Trimble Award as EO’s top Membership Chair worldwide.
- Created the core global content for EO’s Accelerator Program, trained the facilitators, and launched it globally.
- Global Forum Director (2006–2008) and Los Angeles Forum Chairman.
- Built his second EO forum from zero and recruited every member. More than ten years in each of his two EO forums.
Vistage
Member of a Vistage CEO peer group.
Boy Scouts of America
- Led an organization of 26,000+ youth, 11,000 adult leaders, and a 100+ member board sending 12,000 children to camp annually.
- Inherited two consecutive years of $2.5M operating losses. Delivered a $1M operating surplus within two years and retired $13.2M in debt, taking the council debt-free for the first time in decades.
- Raised over $25M in development dollars, including a $10M gift permanently endowing Lake Arrowhead Scout Camp, and led over $17M in asset transactions.
- Led the merger of the Los Angeles Area and San Gabriel Valley Councils into the Greater Los Angeles Area Council, one of the largest in the country.
- Grew the annual Business Leaders Breakfast from $35k to over $400k in annual proceeds.
- Improved the council’s Journey to Excellence ranking every year: no ranking and a conditional charter in 2014, then Bronze, Silver, and Gold in 2017. Grew traditional membership two years running for the first time in decades.
City of Manhattan Beach
- Six years on the Planning Commission of the City of Manhattan Beach (2017–2023), including two years as Chair, elected by fellow commissioners, presiding over public hearings from 2020 to 2022.
- Quasi-judicial land-use decisions on a public record: appeals, variances, and development approvals, including the contested Highrose/Verandas housing project in 2022.
- The discipline of a public body: staff reports, open-meeting rules, residents at the microphone, and decisions that hold up to scrutiny.
Rotary Club of Manhattan Beach
- A member since 2010. Served as President of the Manhattan Beach club, and on its board, leading a service organization of local business owners and professionals.
- Membership Director, 2025–26: added 23 new members, a record for the club and the District.
- Named Rotarian of the Year.
- As Membership Director, added 23 new members in the 2025–26 Rotary year, a record for the club and the District.
“Gerry led this organization during a particularly challenging time and did so with great skill and enthusiasm … Mission critical financial management and thoughtful use of assets has allowed this century old agency to continue shaping the character of area youth.”
David S. Meshulam · Fellow board member, BSA Greater Los Angeles Area Council
“Gerry Morton is a force of nature – as well organized and as focused as anyone I have worked with – but with the ability to lead, to motivate, and incidentally to recall names, titles and facts to an amazing degree. Gerry moves mountains.”
Dave Berkus · President, Berkus Tech Ventures
- Chairman of the Board and Council President, Boy Scouts of America in Los Angeles: a 100+ member board, a 22-member executive committee, and an organization serving 26,000 youth and 11,000 adult leaders.
- Audit and finance: inherited multi-year deficits, produced a $1M operating surplus within two years, retired $13.2M in debt, and took the council debt-free.
- Governance and nominating: led the merger of two councils into the Greater Los Angeles Area Council, one of the largest in the country, and carried board composition and succession through the transition.
- Operating experience: twenty-two years as CEO of NutriScience Corporation, with consumer brands scaled to national retail and an Inc. 5000 growth record. See the operating record.
EO Accelerator
- Wrote the original global curriculum for Entrepreneurs’ Organization’s Accelerator Program.
- Trained the facilitators who would go on to run it chapter by chapter.
- Took the program from a single chapter’s idea to a worldwide EO offering.
Retreat Facilitation
- Twenty-two years of facilitating confidential executive rooms, brought to leadership offsites and board retreats.
- Sessions run to a decision and a follow-through plan, not to a change of scenery.
- Built for boards, executive teams, and founder groups that need the hard conversation to actually happen.
“Having been a non-profit leader for 43 years, including at an Ivy League university and federal service academy, I’ve been to dozens, perhaps hundreds, of strategic planning retreats. None was facilitated as effectively as the one Gerry led for us at Villanova Prep.”
Jim Link · President, Villanova Preparatory School