From Corporate Executive to C12 Chair

Why I Bet on Eternal ROI | Mark Heerema

I did not resign because I had a better offer. I resigned because a long-growing tension finally reached a fork in the road. For years, I was deeply grateful for my executive role at a great, family-like company where I had spent my entire professional career. I respected the leadership and was thankful for the team. At the same time, I sensed there might be something else I was supposed to step toward, even though I am risk-averse and had no desire to make a hasty move.

After prayer, counsel, and a lot of reflection, my wife and I concluded it was time to move, not from a bad situation, but toward a new calling. I resigned from Regency without knowing about C12 and began exploring adjacent paths to serve leaders in a new way.

One door opened quickly: a teaching role at a university. I accepted, then had a hard integrity check. As the semester neared, I realized I was feeling unsettled and sure that this wasn’t the path God had for me. Five weeks before classes, I resigned, choosing integrity over optics. That left me with two resignations in roughly three months and a lot of uncertainty.

A providential nudge

In that anxious season, a former teammate mentioned C12 and connected me indirectly to Chair Chuck Egan. Chuck thought Atlanta might not have open Chair roles, but encouraged me to call C12 corporate, so I did. I received a call back with a simple update: Atlanta is open, and we are looking for new Chairs. That sentence began the road I am walking today.

Here is the irony. Not long before that phone call, I had crossed C12 off my list in my journal. I did not see myself as an owner-operator. The Chair role sounded entrepreneurial in ways that I felt might not fit my wiring. Yet the door that opened was unmistakable.

I am not the stereotypical founder, and that is the point

I am risk-averse. I am not the high-octane, Type A founder archetype. Saying yes to a role that required market development and business ownership felt scary. Two things changed the calculation. First, my wife looked me in the eye and said, If this is what you are called to do, we will figure it out. Second, she had recently stepped back into corporate work, which would provide our family stability while I built. That runway gave me the freedom not to compromise on calling or cut corners.

Those are unromantic details, benefits, paychecks, and a calendar of expenses, but they matter. Calling requires courage, and courage often requires runway. That is stewardship, not bravado.

What I was actually seeking all along

I did not want a spotlight. I wanted to help leaders with a desire to lead from behind and invest my work in something that mattered beyond the quarter. In C12, I found a role where my job is to prepare the table. I bring world-class content, convene a trustworthy room, then get out of the way so peers sharpen peers. As forums mature, the best thing I can do is provide the table and the food, curate the process, and let leaders share openly and grow together.

Yes, the curriculum is strong. Members say so often. But they also stay for the intangibles, camaraderie, peace of mind, safety, and the rare freedom to take the mask off. The higher the responsibility, the smaller the circle where a CEO can be fully honest. C12 expands that circle in a healthy way, and the frameworks quietly support that trust.

Eighteen months later, harder and more fulfilling

My first eighteen months as a Chair were not easy. Market development and facilitation stretch different muscles, and humility is not optional. Yet the fulfillment outweighs the difficulty. Almost every meeting, someone around the table references how C12 has significantly enhanced their leadership, drastically improved how they run their business, and/or changed their life. It is rarely a single dramatic moment, more often the steady accumulation of community, accountability, and courage to try what once felt impossible.

If you asked what this season has done for me, I would say becoming a C12 Chair changed my life, and it is helping change the lives of others.

The systems that shape the room

The core values that shaped my career make sense in the Chair seat. Christ-centered focus, commitment to excellence, authentic community, stewardship with accountability, and Kingdom impact. In practice, they look like this:

• Monthly Peer Forums
  A confidential peer-to-peer environment where real issues are processed with rigor and grace. The cadence compounds clarity and courage.
  
  
• Five-Point Alignment
  Keeping vision, financials, operations, team development, and culture moving in the same direction under a Christ-centered mission. Decisions stay coherent, not compartmentalized.
  
  
• Business as a Ministry
  Treating hiring, onboarding, customer care, daily management, and even budgeting as opportunities to serve and disciple, not just extract performance.
  
  

We present these tools without preaching. Members are the heroes. We speak as peers and practitioners. We keep the tone clear, respectful, and useful for busy leaders.

What it takes, and what it gives

If you hear your own story in mine, gratitude for a great corporate chapter, a growing desire to invest in leaders with eternal impact, consider the Chair path with clear eyes and a full heart.

Count the costs. Build a realistic runway. Then, if the call remains, step forward!

In my experience, the marketplace is one of the greatest mission fields on earth. When safety, love, accountability, and results live in the same room, people change. Companies change. Families change. That is the kind of eternal return I was searching for, even before I had the language for it.