One month out — October 16–19 · Helicopter tour over Crazy Horse — capped at the first 30 · Registration closes when the roster is confirmed
C-SUITE NETWORK Monument Retreat
Oct 16–19, 2026 Outlaw Ranch · Custer, SD
Reserve your seat
A private executive retreat The Black Hills of South Dakota

For Monumental Leaders Carving Their Own Legacy

Most executive events are built around comfort. This one is built around perspective. Trade the boardroom for open sky, quiet trails, and the conversations that only happen once the noise gets quiet.

A helicopter tour over Crazy Horse Memorial and the Needles of the Black Hills — capped at the first 30 registrations. Four days with Jeffrey Hayzlett and Tricia Benn, in a deliberately small room.

From $3,300 · We have taken over the entire camp for four days. See packages

Before we describe the retreat

The things you have not said out loud.

Collected from the founders and CEOs we spend our year with. Not one of them said any of it on a stage.

I have had two approaches this year. I do not know whether I want either of them, or whether that is just fear talking.
My daughter wants the business. I do not think she is ready yet, and there is no one I can say that to.
I built this so I would have freedom. I have less of it now than I did at thirty.
Almost everything I am worth is locked inside one thing I cannot sell quickly.
I am the person everyone brings problems to. I have not worked out who I bring mine to.
If I sold tomorrow, I am not sure who I would be on Monday morning.
My leadership team stopped growing about two years ago, and I am fairly sure I am the reason.
I do not want to be the man who dies at his desk. I also have no idea how to stop.

If three of those landed, you are not unusual and you are not stuck. You are just at the part of the story nobody schedules time for.

And underneath all of it, what you actually want.

This is the part the retreat is built around.

  • To hand it over well — to someone who will not quietly undo the thing you spent twenty years building.
  • To make the decision you have been circling for two years, and to be genuinely settled about it.
  • To be sure the next ten years count for more than the last ten did, rather than simply being busier.
  • To have your children want what you built, instead of resenting what it cost them.
  • To sit in a room with people who are genuinely further along than you — and who are not trying to sell you anything.
The honest answer

It is not pretty. That is the point.

Most executive retreats are built to be photographed. This one is built to change what you do next.

There is no spa, no ballroom, no branded tote bag, and nothing dainty about it. You will be outside, close to the earth, with your hands dirty and your phone useless — in one of the most mystical places in the United States.

That is a deliberate choice. Four days of comfort produces nothing. Four days of weather, altitude, granite, and silence produces the conversations you have been avoiding — about succession, about the sale, about what the next ten years are actually for.

We are putting a stake in the ground: this matters enough to leave the office for.

We go back to nature, and we deep dive together. It is not about sitting dainty, and it is certainly not going to the spa. It is about getting your hands dirty, being close to the earth, and learning something beyond what words can explain — then thinking about that in terms of how we make monumental decisions and build the legacies that matter.

Tricia Benn · CEO, C-Suite Network™
4 days
with Jeffrey Hayzlett
and Tricia Benn

The access here is the whole argument.

Jeffrey and Tricia are not flying in for a keynote and a handshake. They are in camp for the entire four days, and the room is small enough that this is not a photo line — it is working time.

Real hours on your business. The decision you are circling. The successor you are unsure about. The offer you have not answered. A former Fortune 100 CMO and the former CMO of a $3 billion holding company, on your actual problem, across four days — not eleven minutes in a hallway.

Price that kind of access on its own and you would not get near this number. It is the reason people who have done this once come back.

The room stays small

Small enough that you will know everyone by Saturday, and small enough that Jeffrey and Tricia spend real time on your business instead of working a receiving line.

Built to be returned to

This is meant to be the one leaders come back to and bring people to — not another date that gets cleared off the calendar in January.

Bring the one or two who should be here

Most of us know one or two people who need these four days more than they will admit. Bring them. That is genuinely how this grows.

Four days, one business day out of your calendar, and a room you helped build.

Reserve your seat
1:44
From the CEO

A minute and a half on why this one is different.

Tricia Benn walks through what these four days actually are, who is in the room, and the invitation reserved for the first thirty people who commit.

If you only have two minutes before you decide, spend them here.

Reserve your seat
100%
Private buyout
30
Helicopter seats
4 days
With Jeffrey & Tricia
Oct 16
Doors open
This is unusual by design

This is not a ballroom.
It's where leaders get grounded.

The Monument Retreat is not another leadership conference in another hotel. It's a camp-style retreat at Outlaw Ranch — shared lodging, shared meals, outdoor experiences, and real conversations. Because something different happens when leaders step out of the boardroom and into nature.

What it isn't

  • Polished or performative
  • Built around status
  • Another ballroom, another keynote
  • A weekend of notes you'll never reopen

What it is

  • A private retreat under open sky
  • Built around connection, not networking
  • Structured sessions, fire pits, and trails
  • Perspective, relationships, and space to think
The noise gets quieter The conversations get more honest The walls come down The questions get bigger
The setting · Outlaw Ranch, Custer SD

Camp-style. Intentionally.

The Monument Retreat is held at Outlaw Ranch — a rustic camp tucked into the Black Hills near Custer, with towering pines, open meadows, and quiet trails in every direction. This is not a resort. Lodging is camp-style: bunk-bed cabins and simple lodge rooms, shared bathhouses, meals together in the dining hall or outdoors, and a pavilion with a wood-burning fireplace for gathering after dark.

The intimacy is the point. A small footprint means a small, deliberate group — when the beds are full, the room is full.

  • Where
    Custer, SD · the Black Hills
  • Lodging
    Bunk-bed cabins & lodge rooms
  • Together
    Shared meals, dining hall & outdoors
  • Around you
    Pines, trails & fire pits
The Outlaw Ranch sign in the Black Hills near Custer, South Dakota
Outlaw Ranch — Custer, South Dakota.
Horseback riding on the grounds at Outlaw Ranch
Black Hills granite surrounding Outlaw Ranch
The land itself tells a story

A place of deep history and enduring legacy.

The Black Hills are more than a beautiful destination. They are a place of sacred meaning and lasting legacy for Native American people. Throughout the retreat runs an intentional thread of honoring the land, the people who came before us, and the legacy carried through generations.

Because leadership is not only about what we build next. It is also about what we recognize, what we respect, what we learn from, and how we choose to lead with greater awareness.

Near Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorial — where legacy, identity, history, vision, and endurance are impossible to ignore — there may be no better place to explore what it means to carve one of your own.

"Legacy is not something we talk about at the end of our journey. It is something we carve every day."

The theme of the Monument Retreat —
For Monumental Leaders Carving Their Own Legacy.

Two excursions · Days two and three

Two men died before their work was finished.

We take the whole group to both. Not as sightseeing — as the clearest succession case studies in North America, standing four hundred feet above your head.

Mount Rushmore National Memorial in the Black Hills

Mount Rushmore

The handover that worked

Gutzon Borglum spent fourteen years on that mountain. Around 400 workers, 450,000 tons of rock removed, and not one life lost.

He died in March 1941, weeks before the dedication he had been planning. His son Lincoln — who had been running the site whenever his father was away raising money — finished it and closed the work that October.

Borglum never saw it completed. It got finished anyway, because he had spent years putting someone beside him who could.

Day Two. The question in the van on the way back is the obvious one.
Crazy Horse Memorial carving in progress on Thunderhead Mountain

Crazy Horse Memorial

The work that outlived its maker

Korczak Ziolkowski set off the first blast on 3 June 1948. He took no government money and never drew a salary. He knew from the beginning he would not live to see it done.

He died in 1982, thirty-four years in. His widow Ruth took over and ran it until her own death. Of their ten children, seven stayed. All of them were free to leave.

The face was dedicated in 1998 — fifty years after the first blast. Seventy-eight years on, they are still carving. Korczak's parting instruction to Ruth was “go slowly so you do it right.”

Day Three. Most people go quiet on this one.

Both men built something that required someone else to finish it. One planned for that. One trusted his family to work it out. Both were right — and you are somewhere in the same question right now, whether or not you have put it in those words.

Capped at the first 30

You have seen it in photographs.
Now see it from the air.

Crazy Horse Memorial is the largest sculpture under construction anywhere on earth — 563 feet of Thunderhead Mountain, still being carved. From the visitor center you see one face at a distance.

From a helicopter you see all of it, from every side — the face, the outstretched arm, the raw rock still waiting, and the Needles and granite spires of the Black Hills running out to the horizon.

10 min
In the air
10 mi
Route
563 ft
The carving
30
Seats only

Flown by Black Hills Aerial Adventures, owner John Wells — the operator locals send visitors to. Scheduled around the retreat agenda and included in your registration. Weather permitting; if a flight is grounded we rebook you inside the same window.

Helicopter over the granite spires of the Black Hills
The Needles · Black Hills
Crazy Horse Memorial carving in progress on Thunderhead Mountain
Crazy Horse · in progress
The completed face of the Crazy Horse Memorial from the air
The face · from the air
Why people remember it

Four days you will still be describing next year.

Most executive events blur together. This one does not, and it is worth being specific about why.

01

The whole camp, ours alone

We did not book a wing or a meeting block. Every cabin, trail, dining hall, and fire pit at Outlaw Ranch belongs to this group for four days. No other guests. No strangers walking through a conversation.

02

Genuinely unplugged

Cell signal at camp is patchy and we are not fixing it. Four days without the pull of a screen is the part people say they had forgotten was possible.

03

Mornings on horseback

Before the working sessions start, the group splits four ways — horseback riding, canoeing, hiking, and biking through the Black Hills. This is where half the real conversations begin.

04

Mount Rushmore, up close

A whole-group excursion to the mountain that took fourteen years, 400 workers, and 450,000 tons of rock — and whose sculptor died before it was finished.

05

Crazy Horse, still being carved

The largest mountain carving on earth, seventy-eight years in and still unfinished. One family, three generations, no government money. You will not see a clearer picture of legacy anywhere.

06

A helicopter over the Black Hills

Capped at the first 30 registrations — ten minutes above the granite spires and the 563-foot carving, from every side. The Black Hills are sacred ground to the Lakota. Seeing them from the air is not something you talk yourself out of remembering.

You can find another conference. You will struggle to find this again.

Reserve your seat
For the leader who has already built something

The questions worth stepping away for.

For the founder, CEO, business owner, and decision-maker who knows there is more ahead — and is ready to ask the bigger things.

01

What am I building now?

02

What kind of leader am I becoming?

03

What legacy have I inherited?

04

What legacy am I responsible for?

05

Who should be in the room with me for this next chapter?

The outcome

You don't step away from leadership. You return to it — differently.

The journey · October 16–19, 2026

Four days at Outlaw Ranch.

Structured executive sessions, outdoor experiences, shared dining, fireside conversation, and curated moments designed to move beyond networking into real discovery. Custer, South Dakota.

Day One Friday · October 16

Arrival, Welcome & Grounding in the Land

Airport

Airport transfers

Transportation begins for guests with accommodation and transport packages.

3:00 PM

Check-in

Guests arrive and settle into Outlaw Ranch.

5:00 PM

Group welcome & opening speaker

A formal welcome that sets the tone for legacy, leadership, connection, and the land.

6:00 PM

Welcome reception

Heavy hors d'oeuvres, platters, cheeses, breads, salads, and dips.

7:00 PM

Opening cultural experience

A Native American dancer, drummer, and sage ceremony — a respectful grounding experience honoring the land, its history, and the Native American legacy of the Black Hills.

Day Two Saturday · October 17

Leadership, Nature & Monumental Perspective

6:00 AM

Wildlife loop experience with Mark

A 1.5-hour guided experience through the free-roaming wildlife area.

6:30 AM

Early-morning continental breakfast

7:30 AM

Hot breakfast available

Informal breakfast and connection time.

8:30 AM

Structured leadership session 1

Four group options available.

10:30 AM

Morning outdoor activities

Four groups — horseback riding, canoeing, hiking, and bike riding.

12:30 PM

Group lunch

Sandwiches, salads, and sides.

1:30 PM

Structured leadership session 2

Four group options available.

3:30 PM

Mount Rushmore group excursion

A whole-group experience connected to the retreat's legacy theme.

6:30 PM

Group cookout dinner

Grills, burgers, hot dogs, and salads.

8:00 PM

Fire pit gathering

Open conversation, connection, and reflection.

Day Three Sunday · October 18

Legacy, Reflection & Deeper Connection

6:00 AM

Wildlife loop experience with Mark

A second optional 1.5-hour guided wildlife experience.

6:30 AM

Early-morning continental breakfast

7:30 AM

Hot breakfast available

Informal breakfast and connection time.

8:30 AM

Structured leadership session 3

Four group options available.

10:30 AM

Morning outdoor activities

Horseback riding, canoeing, hiking, and bike riding.

12:30 PM

Group lunch

Taco / nacho-style lunch with beans, salads, and sides.

1:30 PM

Structured leadership session 4

Four group options available.

3:30 PM

Crazy Horse Memorial group excursion

A whole-group experience tied to Native American legacy, endurance, and vision — and the deeper conversation about what we inherit, honor, and carry forward.

6:30 PM

Group dinner

A substantial dining experience.

8:00 PM

Fire pit gathering

Evening reflection, relationship-building, and legacy conversation.

Day Four Monday · October 19

Takeaways & Departure

6:30 AM

Early-morning continental breakfast

7:30 AM

Hot breakfast available

8:30 AM

Group takeaways · session 5

Final reflections, leadership commitments, and closing conversations.

10:00 AM

Check-out & departure

Transportation provided for applicable attendees.

Jeffrey Hayzlett speaking on stage
Jeffrey HayzlettChairman · C-Suite Network™
Your host

Four days, chaired by Jeffrey Hayzlett.

Jeffrey does not fly in, deliver a keynote, and leave. He chairs the room for the full four days — opening the circle on Friday night, framing the question each morning, running the peer hot‑seats, and holding the group through the harder conversations. That continuity is the point: one trusted voice carrying the thread from the first fire to the final commitment.

As Chief Marketing Officer of Eastman Kodak, he led 50,000 employees through one of the most dramatic brand transformations in American business. He has since become one of the most sought‑after voices in the country on change and leadership — and the Chairman of the C-Suite Network™.

  • Former Fortune 100 CMO · Eastman Kodak
  • Five-time business Hall of Fame inductee
  • Bestselling author of four books
  • Primetime host · C-Suite TV
  • Chairman · C-Suite Network™
Tricia Benn, CEO of the C-Suite Network

Co-chaired by Tricia Benn.

Chief Executive Officer · C-Suite Network™

Tricia runs the room with Jeffrey for all four days. Where he pushes, she structures — she is the one who makes sure the person who came with a real problem does not leave without having worked on it.

Before the C-Suite Network she was Chief Marketing Officer of a $3 billion holding company, which is to say she has sat on the side of the table most of this room is sitting on now.

  • Former CMO · $3B holding company
  • CEO · C-Suite Network™
  • Builder of the Hero Club and Thought Council rooms

On the rest of the program.

Most events sell you a lineup. This one is built the other way around: the room is the program. A room of business leaders, four days, no stage to hide behind — the working sessions are peer hot-seats, not keynotes, and the person sitting next to you at the fire is the point.

Additional voices are being confirmed — including Black Hills and Native leaders speaking to the land, inheritance, and stewardship. They will deepen these four days. They are not what you are buying a seat for.

Who belongs in this room

You'll leave with more than notes.

You'll leave with perspective, relationships, space to think, and moments that stay with you — and a deeper understanding that legacy is something we carve every day.

A fireside leadership session outdoors at the retreat
Fireside sessions in the pines — real conversation, not a stage.

The builder

For the executive who has already built something meaningful and knows there is more ahead.

The decision-maker

For the founder, CEO, and business owner asking what they're building now — and what kind of leader they're becoming.

The one who returns differently

More grounded. More aware. More connected. More intentional.

The legacy-minded

For leaders weighing what they've inherited, what they're responsible for, and who should be in the room for the next chapter.

Dates
Oct 16–19, 2026Friday through Monday
Location
Outlaw RanchCuster, South Dakota
Format
Camp-style retreatShared lodging & meals
Nearest airport
Rapid City (RAP)About an hour from camp
What it costs

Three ways in.

Every option includes the whole program — all five leadership sessions, both monument excursions, the welcome reception, and every shared meal. What changes is where you sleep and how you get around.

Most take this one

Full retreat

Bed, transfers, and all three nights at the fire.
At checkout: “Monument Retreat with Bunk Style Accommodation and Transport”
$4,400
  • All five leadership sessions
  • Mount Rushmore & Crazy Horse excursions
  • Three nights at Outlaw Ranch
  • Round-trip transfers from Rapid City (RAP)
  • Transport to both excursions
  • Fire pit gatherings, all three nights
  • Welcome reception and all shared meals
  • Nothing to organize once you land

Retreat, no transport

You have a car and want the cabin.
At checkout: “Monument Retreat with Bunk Style Accommodation (no transport)”
$3,800
  • All five leadership sessions
  • Mount Rushmore & Crazy Horse excursions
  • Three nights at Outlaw Ranch
  • Fire pit gatherings, all three nights
  • Welcome reception and all shared meals
  • No airport transfers
  • You drive yourself to both excursions

Event only

You find your own bed in Custer and drive in each morning.
At checkout: “Monument Retreat Event (no Accommodation or transport)”
$3,300
  • All five leadership sessions
  • Mount Rushmore & Crazy Horse excursions
  • Welcome reception and all shared meals
  • Outdoor activities and wildlife loop
  • No lodging — you book a hotel in Custer
  • No airport or excursion transport
  • Fire pit evenings only if you stay late

Booking takes about two minutes.

One booking page handles all three packages. On the next screen, set the quantity to 1 beside the package you want — the names above match the ones you will see there — then choose Fri, Oct 16, 2026 as the date and complete checkout.

Booking is handled by WE Group Global, our event partner. Full payment is taken at checkout. Questions before you book — ask Dani.

Reserve your seat Opens the booking page in a new tab
On the $1,100. That is the whole gap between sleeping in town and staying at camp — and it covers three nights, every transfer, and all three evenings at the fire. The fire is where most of this actually happens. If you are weighing the two, that is the cheapest $1,100 on this page.
100% the camp
is ours

We did not book a block. We took the whole camp.

Outlaw Ranch is ours for four days — every cabin, every lodge room, the dining hall, the trails, and the fire pits. There are no other guests. No wedding party in the next building, no strangers at breakfast, nobody wandering through a conversation you are in the middle of.

It also means room to breathe. The camp is built to hold several hundred people, and it will be holding a small group of business leaders instead. Everyone you pass for four days is someone worth meeting.

The helicopter tour over Crazy Horse is capped at the first 30 registrations. Registration closes once we confirm the camp roster — if October is a maybe, tell us now rather than later.

Reserve your seat October 16–19, 2026 · Outlaw Ranch, Custer SD

Say yes if

  • You have built something real and the next chapter is genuinely unwritten
  • You are circling a decision you have not said out loud — succession, sale, or what comes after
  • You would rather be sharpened by a room of peers than talked at by six speakers
  • Four days without signal sounds like relief, not risk

Say no if

  • You are looking for leads — this is not a room to sell into, and it will not go well
  • You want a resort, a suite, and a spa
  • You need to be reachable every hour of the day
  • You are early enough that tactics would help you more than reflection
Before you register

The details, answered.

Camp‑style is unusual for a room like this. Pick a topic below — and if your question is not here, ask us directly.

What exactly is the Monument Retreat?

A private executive retreat for leaders who are building more than a business — they are building a legacy.

It is deliberately not a traditional conference or a hotel ballroom event. It is a nature‑based leadership experience in the Black Hills, designed for deeper conversation, meaningful connection, and executive‑level reflection away from the noise of everyday leadership.

When is it?

Friday, October 16 through Monday, October 19, 2026 — a three‑night experience. It opens with arrival and welcome activities on Friday and closes with breakfast, group takeaways, and departures on Monday.

Where is it held?
Outlaw Ranch
12703 Outlaw Ranch Road
Custer, South Dakota 57730

The property sits in the Black Hills, surrounded by open sky, trails, and wildlife, with access to some of the most meaningful landmarks in the region.

Who should attend?

CEOs, founders, business owners, C‑Suite executives, senior decision‑makers, and thought leaders — including Hero Club and Thought Council members.

In short: leaders who have already built something meaningful and are ready to think more deeply about what comes next.

How many people will be there?

We have taken over the entire camp for the four days, so there are no other guests on the property — every cabin, lodge room, trail, and fire pit is ours. Outlaw Ranch can hold several hundred people; the retreat group is deliberately far smaller than that, which is what gives you both privacy and space.

Is the Retreat open to all genders?

Yes.

What is included in my registration?

The welcome reception, all structured executive sessions, outdoor activities, shared meals, snacks and refreshments, fire pit gatherings, and group excursions to both Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorial.

Airport transportation is included for attendees who book an accommodation package with transport. Airfare is not included.

How much does it cost?

Three packages: Event only $3,300, Retreat without transport $3,800, and the Full retreat $4,400.

Every package includes the entire program — all five sessions, both monument excursions, the welcome reception, outdoor activities, and all shared meals. The difference is lodging and transport. Full detail is in the packages section.

Worth knowing: only $1,100 separates the Event-only ticket from the Full retreat, and that covers three nights at camp, every transfer, and all three fire pit evenings.

Is there a registration deadline?

Registration closes once we confirm the final roster with the camp, which happens well before October 16. If you are considering it, tell us now rather than later — lodging and transfers have to be locked in advance.

The Crazy Horse helicopter tour is capped at the first 30 registrations.

Is a deposit required?

No. Full payment is due at the time of booking.

Can I attend without staying overnight?

Yes. There is a day‑attendee option that does not include accommodation or transport.

What if I would rather stay at a hotel?

You can. Custer is a short drive from camp and has good options, and the day‑attendee registration exists for exactly this reason — you attend the sessions and excursions and sleep in town.

We would gently push back, though. The fire pit conversations, the late evenings, and the slow mornings are where much of the value actually lives, and staying off‑site means missing them. If you do stay in town, tell us in advance so we can plan around your arrivals.

Can I bring my spouse, partner, or a colleague?

Yes — talk to us before you book and we will walk you through the options for a second person, including which parts of the program they can join.

One honest note: the working sessions go deepest when you are not sitting beside someone who reports to you.

If I join the C-Suite Network, does part of my registration apply toward membership?

Membership and Retreat registration are handled separately. Speak with the Concierge team before you book and they will lay out the current options so you are not leaving anything on the table.

What is the cancellation and refund policy?

Registration is managed by WE Group, our exclusive event partner, and the terms are set out at checkout. If something changes, contact us as early as you can and we will do what we can to help.

How do I get to Outlaw Ranch?

Fly into Rapid City Regional Airport (RAP), roughly an hour’s drive from camp.

If you would rather connect through a larger hub, Denver is about a six‑hour drive — a genuinely beautiful one.

Are airport transfers included?

Yes, for attendees who purchase an accommodation package that includes transport. That covers airport pickup, return transportation, and travel to the excursions.

Day attendees and accommodation‑only bookings arrange their own transport.

What kind of lodging should I expect?

Bunk‑style, shared‑room accommodation at Outlaw Ranch. Comfortable, clean, and warm — but a working camp rather than a private hotel suite.

Come expecting a relaxed, camp‑style environment. That is the point, not a compromise.

Why shared rooms for executives?

Because this Retreat is designed to be different. The shared setting removes some of the distance, formality, and performance that come with professional events.

It creates an environment where leaders connect as people rather than titles — where conversations get more honest and the relationships that come out of it are more real.

Can I arrive early or stay on afterward?

Yes, and it is worth it. Custer State Park, Spearfish Canyon, and Deadwood are all close, and October is one of the best months to see them. Tell us your dates and we can help you extend.

What should I pack?

Because this is a camp‑style retreat, pack for comfort, flexibility, and outdoor conditions:

  • Comfortable casual clothing, and layers for changing fall weather
  • A warm jacket or fleece
  • Comfortable walking or hiking shoes
  • Casual clothes for fire pit gatherings
  • Outdoor‑appropriate clothing
  • Toiletries and personal items
  • A refillable water bottle
  • A notebook or journal
  • Any medications or personal essentials

October in the Hills swings hard — warm afternoons and near‑freezing nights — so layers matter more than anything else on that list.

What is the dress code?

Executive casual and outdoor comfortable. This is not a suit‑and‑tie retreat.

Dress for comfort, movement, weather, shared meals, sessions, and time outside.

Will meals be provided?

Yes — the welcome reception, breakfasts, lunches, snacks and refreshments, and group dinners are all included.

Meals are shared, which is part of the design rather than a logistical accident. Tell us about allergies or dietary needs at registration.

Outlaw Ranch is a faith-based camp — can I bring wine?

Outlaw Ranch is operated by Lutherans Outdoors in South Dakota, and the alcohol policy is set by the venue rather than by us. We will publish the specifics here before registration closes — ask the Concierge team in the meantime and you will get a straight answer.

Worth saying plainly: the Retreat itself is not a religious program, and the camp welcomes people of every background.

Will I have cell service and wifi?

There is wifi at the lodge. Cell coverage across the Black Hills is patchy and drops out entirely in places.

Come expecting to be harder to reach — that is part of what you are buying.

Do I need to be outdoorsy? How demanding is this?

No, and not very. You do not need to be an experienced outdoors person to attend. Some activities are active, but the purpose is perspective, connection, and presence — not athletic performance.

There is walking on uneven ground, and both monuments involve stairs and time on your feet. Custer also sits around 5,300 feet, so if you are coming from sea level you may notice the first day. Nothing is mandatory — tell us about mobility needs in advance and we will plan around them.

What outdoor activities are planned?

Horseback riding, canoeing, hiking, bike riding, and a wildlife loop experience.

Activities are subject to final scheduling, weather, and availability.

Will there be structured business sessions?

Yes. The agenda includes multiple structured leadership sessions across Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, designed to support executive conversation, leadership growth, legacy reflection, and peer connection.

Will the Retreat acknowledge the Native history of the Black Hills?

Yes. Recognizing the land, its history, and the enduring legacy of the Native American people connected to the Black Hills is a deliberate throughline of this Retreat.

The intention is not to use the land or Native history as decoration, but to let the setting deepen the conversation about leadership, inheritance, responsibility, and legacy — approached with honor, care, and respect.

What makes this different from other executive events?

Most executive events are built around stages, ballrooms, name badges, and packed agendas. This one is built around land, legacy, nature, shared experience, and real conversation.

The camp‑style setting, shared lodging, fire pit gatherings, outdoor activities, and landmark visits create a very different environment — one designed to move past networking and into genuine connection.

Is this a good fit if I prefer polished, luxury events?

It depends what you are looking for. This is not designed to be a luxury resort experience. It is designed to be memorable, grounding, beautiful, and unusual.

For the leader ready to step out of the expected and into something more reflective and relationship‑driven, it may be the most valuable four days of the year. For the leader who wants a resort, it honestly is not.

Is any of it recorded?

No. What is said in session stays in the room.

There is photography at meals and excursions for the Network’s own use, never during sessions, and we ask before using anything with you in it.

Do I need to prepare anything?

One thing: bring a real, unresolved question — a decision you have been circling, something you have not said out loud yet. The room is at its most useful when people arrive with something genuine to work on.

Still have a question? Book a conversation with CathiJo McGee and ask it directly.

Come ready to step away from the expected.

Honor the land, challenge your thinking, deepen your relationships, and consider the legacy you are carving now. Space is intentionally limited to protect the depth of the experience.

CathiJo McGee · C-Suite Network™ · Book a conversation

Registration & travel managed by WE Group, the exclusive event partner of the C-Suite Network™ · [email protected]

C-Suite Network™ — World's Most Trusted Network of Business Executives · 4916 S. Technopolis Dr., Sioux Falls, SD 57106 For Monumental Leaders Carving Their Own Legacy