chief executive officer

A Chief Executive Officer (CEO), or chief executive, is the highest-ranking corporate officer, administrator, corporate administrator, executive, or executive officer, in charge of total management of a corporation, company, organization or agency.

CEO

In closely held corporations, it is general business culture that the office of Chief Executive Officer is also the Chairman of the Board. Specifically, one person often shares the Chairman and CEO titles while another person takes the presidency or may become chief operating officer (COO). However, the term president is from the U.S. whereas in the UK Managing Director (MD) is favored. Underneath that comes the Executive Vice President (U.S.) or Executive Director (UK). In publicly held corporations, the CEO and Chair positions can be separated but there are implications in corporate governance by doing so.

In some European Union countries, there are two separate boards, one executive board for the day-to-day business and one supervisory board for control purposes (elected by the shareholders). In these countries, the chief executive officer presides over the executive board and the chairman presides over the supervisory board and these two roles will always be held by different people. This ensures a distinction between management by the executive board and governance by the supervisory board. This allows for clear lines of authority. The aim is to prevent a conflict of interest and too much power being concentrated in the hands of one person. There is a strong parallel here with the structure of governments, which tend to separate the political cabinet from the management civil service.

In rare circumstances an Executive Chairperson can be appointed but this is either illegal in many jurisdictions or frowned upon by Regulators.

In the United Kingdom many Charities and Government Agencies are headed by a Chief Executive who is answerable to a Board of Trustees or Board of Directors. In the UK, the Chair (of the Board) in public companies is more senior than the Chief Executive. Most public companies now split the role of Chair and Chief Executive.

In France a CEO/MD is known as the "PDG" (Président Directeur Général), In Sweden the CEO/MD is known as "VD" (Verkställande Direktör), in Spain the usual name is "Director General", while in Italy it's called "AD" (which stands for Amministratore Delegato).

Reporting structure

Typically, a CEO has a cadre of subordinate executives, each of which has specific functional responsibilities. These direct reporting relationships most often include: Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Information Officer, and the Director of Human Resources.

However, depending on the industry in which the company operates and/or the organizational structure the company has employed, various other functional areas may be highlighted through the CEO's direct span of control. Some of these less common monikers include: Chief (Business) Development Officer, Chief Knowledge Officer, Chief Learning Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Risk Officer, Chief Innovation Process Officer, Chief Credit Officer, and Chief Creative Officer.

See also

• Board of directors
• Corporate officer
• Corporate title
• Chief financial officer (CFO)
• Chief visionary officer (CVO)
• Chief operating officer (COO)
• Chief information officer (CIO)
• Chief information security officer (CISO)
• Chief marketing officer (CMO)
• Chief analytics officer (CAO)
• Chief administrative officer (CAO)
• Chief networking officer
• Chief data officer
• Chief technical officer or Chief technology officer (CTO)
• Chief legal officer
• Corporate governance
• Creative director
• Executive compensation
• Managing director

Lists

• List of chief executive officers
• List of corporate leaders
• List of CEO books
• C-level

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