vice president

VP redirects here. For other uses, see VP (disambiguation) and Veep.

A vice president is an officer in government or business who is next in rank below a president. The name comes from the Latin vice meaning in place of. In some countries, the vice president is called the deputy president. In American slang, the American Vice President is sometimes referred to as the V. P. or the veep, while the spouse of a vice president may be known as the Second Lady.

Vice presidents in government

In politics, a vice president is a politician whose primary job is to replace the president on the event of his or her death or resignation. Vice presidents are either elected jointly with the president as his or her running mate, elected separately, or appointed independently after the president's election.

Governments with vice presidents generally have only one person holding this role and generally if the president is not present, dies, resigns, or is otherwise unable to fulfill his job, the vice president will serve as a president. In many presidential systems, the vice president does not wield much day to day political power, but is still considered an important member of the cabinet. Many Vice Presidents in the Americas hold the symbolic position of President of the Senate. The vice president sometimes assumes some of the ceremonial duties of president, such as attending functions and events that the actual president may be too busy to attend; the Vice President of the United States, for example often attends funerals of world leaders on behalf of the president. In this capacity the vice president may thus assume the role of a de facto symbolic head of state, a position which is lacking in a system of government where the powers of head of state and government are fused.

The vice-president's position can mean different things in different democracies. In parliamentary systems, most states do not have a vice president but instead name another office-holder, often the chairperson or president of the upper house of parliament or even the prime minister to act as effective vice president. In the Republic of Ireland, a collective vice presidency exists called the Presidential Commission, made up of chairmen of both houses of the Oireachtas (parliament), along with the Irish Chief Justice. In Germany, the de facto vice president is the President of the Bundesrat (upper house), in Poland it is Marshal of the Sejm (lower house) and in France it is the speaker of the Senate. In Russia, the Prime Minister serves as the de facto vice president, although he has much more power than the Vice President of the United States.

Vice presidents in business

In business, vice-president refers to a rank in senior management. A trade-union may also elect a vice-president to serve its members. Most companies that use this title generally have large numbers of people with the title of vice president with different types of vice president (e.g. vice president for finance). A vice president in business usually reports directly to the president or CEO of the company. When there are several vice presidents in a company they are sometimes ranked by naming the highest ranking Executive VP, the second highest ranking Senior VP, and the remainder of the management team just VP. There are usually several SVPs in one company, when that title is used. There can also be more than one EVP.

In large brokerage firms, there are usually several VPs in each local branch office, the title being more ceremonial than actually denoting a managerial position within the company.

A corporate vice-president is rarely "second in line" to succeed the corporate president following death or resignation. Such decisions are usually left up to the board of directors.

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