The Alternative Board (TAB) is celebrating 20 years of providing peer advisory boards and business coaching to small and medium-sized businesses.Since its inception, TAB has helped more than 13,000 companies all across the United States, Canada, South America and the United Kingdom.

Founded in 1990 in St. Louis, Missouri, by Allen E. Fishman, TAB provides peer insight, guidance and knowledge to members by facilitating roundtables of business owners who share solutions to challenges they are facing and strategies to secure new opportunities.

The value received from the combination of peer advice, business coaching and TAB’s proprietary business tools make TAB membership a unique support system to help move privately owned businesses forward – even in today’s challenging economy.

“Hands down, TAB is an invaluable resource to our business. One opportunity my board strongly encouraged me to move forward with resulted in a 46 percent increase in my net profit for 2009, a year in which most companies suffered significant losses,” saysTAB member Tina Joseph from B2T Training.

In 2009, TAB’s annual business owner index survey found that just 16 percent of TAB business members had been forced to downsize as a result of the economy, as opposed to 41 percent of non-TAB businesses.*

Founder and Chairman, Allen E. Fishman, says that, “Our achievements and successes have been a collaborative effort of our corporate staff, franchise owners and members. It is a great accomplishment to know that we have had such a positive impact over the past 20 years.”

About The Alternative Board®-The Alternative Board®(TAB) is the world’s largest franchise system providing peer board and coaching services for business owners. Founded in 1990, the company operates more than 150 franchisees internationally. Founder Allen E. Fishman is also author of the bestselling books 7 Secrets of Great Entrepreneurial Masters and 9 Elements of Family Business Success. For more information on The Alternative Board and peer advisory boards, please visit .

*Taken from the 2009 TAB Member survey. Conducted by Bazzirk, Inc., this is an annual poll of TAB members as well as a mirror group of non-member business owners regarding key economic indicators and projections for the upcoming business year.