Chief executive officer

"Chief Executive" redirects here. For other uses, see Chief Executive (disambiguation). "CEO" and "CEOs" redirect here. For the island, see Ceos. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2010) A chief executive officer (CEO, American English), managing director (MD, British English),1 or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer (executive) or administrator in charge of total management of an organization. An individual appointed as a CEO of a corporation, company, organization, or agency reports to the board of directors. Many CEOs have the title "president and CEO". This is a popular combination especially if someone else is a non-executive chairman of the board. In addition, it can mean the opposite (especially in the United States), in other words that the title holders are also inside directors on the board of directors if not the chairperson (often called "president"), or it can mean that they are also the chief operating officer. Compared to the CEO, the president is often considered to be more focused upon daily operations, who is supposed to be the visionary, so the title "president and CEO" is often used to emphasise that the title holder performs both these roles. Contents 1 Responsibilities 2 International use 3 Structure 4 See also 5 References 6 External links // Responsibilities The responsibility of the chief executive officer is to align the company, internally and externally, with his or her strategic vision. The core duty of a CEO is to facilitate business outside of the company while guiding employees and other executive officers towards a central objective. The size and sector of the company will dictate the secondary responsibilities. A CEO must have a balance of internal and external initiatives to build a sustainable company.2 For corporations, the chief executive officer primarily coordinates external initiatives at a high level. As there are many other c-level executives (e.g. marketing, information, technical, financial etc.), seldom do corporate CEOs have low-level functions. For emerging entrepreneurs, their acting position as a CEO is much different than that on the corporate level. As often other c-level executives are not incorporated in small operations, it is the duty of the CEO (and sometimes founder) to assume those positions. Mid-sized companies borrow from corporate and entrepreneurial CEO responsibilities. There will not be all c-level positions available so the CEO must compensate for gaps either through delegating or assuming additional responsibility. In many states, when an organization incorporates it is necessary to specify individuals in the role of president, treasurer, and secretary with the provison that the person nominated as president cannot also hold the position of treasurer.citation needed But often a person can be specified as secretary/treasurer. In many non-profits, there is a gross confusion between the chair of the board (sometimes referred to as the president of the board), the secretary of the board (also confused with the secretary of the corporation), and then a board often creates the position of treasurer.citation needed Boards should not have presidents or treasurers, but boards and corporations both need secretaries.citation needed International use 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 CEO 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 government, which tends to separate the political cabinet from the management civil service. In other parts of the world, such as Asia, it is possible to have two or three CEOs in charge of one corporation. In the UK, 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, similar to a sizable percentage of public companies in the US, the chair(person) (of the board) in public companies is more senior than the chief executive (who is usually known as the managing director). Most public companies now split the roles of chair and chief executive. The following presents an alphabetical list of some international common terms for the CEO position: Australia: general manager (GM) (or also managing director (MD), but only when the executive officeholder is also a member of the board of directors) Albanian: Administrator i Përgjithshëm Arabic: الرئيس التنفيذي‎ Bulgarian: Генерален директор Danish: Administrerende Direktør (administrating director) (Adm.Dir.) Dutch: Algemeen Directeur (general manager) Persian: مدیر کل Finnish: Toimitusjohtaja (TJ) French: Président Directeur Général (PDG) Irish: Príomhoifigeach Feidhmiúcháin (POF) German: Geschäftsführer (business leader) or also German: Generaldirektor (general director) Hebrew: מנכ"ל‎ (Director General) Hungarian: Ügyvezető Igazgató (Ügyv. Ig.) India: CEO or managing director (MD) Italian: Amministratore Delegato (delegated administrator) (AD) Macedonian: Извршен директор (izvrshen direktor - executive director) or also Macedonian: Генерален директор (generalen direktor - general director) Mongolian: Ерөнхий захирал, ерөнхийлөгч Norwegian: Administrerende Direktør (administrating director) (Adm.Dir.) Pakistan: managing director (MD) Polish: Dyrektor Generalny (general director) Romanian: director general (general director) Russian: Генеральный Директор (generalnyi direktor – general director) Serbian: Генерални директор Slovene: Generalni direktor Spanish: director ejecutivo (executive director) Swedish: verkställande direktör (VD) Turkish: icra kurulu başkanı In the United States, and in business, the executive officers are usually the top officers of a corporation, the chief executive officer (CEO) being the best-known type. The definition varies; for instance, the California Corporate Disclosure Act defines "Executive Officers" as the five most highly-compensated officers not also sitting on the board of directors. In the case of a sole proprietorship, an executive officer is the sole proprietor. In the case of a partnership, an executive officer is a managing partner, senior partner, or administrative partner. In the case of a limited liability company, an executive officer is any member, manager, or officer. Structure Main article: corporate title Typically, a CEO has several subordinate executives, each of whom has specific functional responsibilities. Common associates include a chief business development officer (CBDO), chief financial officer (CFO), chief operating officer (COO), chief marketing officer (CMO), chief information officer (CIO), chief communications officer (CCO), chief legal officer (CLO), chief technical officer (CTO), chief creative officer (CCO), chief compliance officer (CCO), chief audit executive (CAE), chief diversity officer (CDO), or chief human resources officer (CHRO). In hospitals and healthcare organizations, this also often includes a chief medical officer (CMO), a chief nursing officer (CNO), and a chief medical informatics officer (CMIO). In the United Kingdom the term 'director' is used instead of 'chief officer'. Associates include the audit executive, business development director, chief executive, compliance director, creative director, director of communications, diversity director, financial director, human resources director, information technology director, legal affairs director, managing director (MD), marketing director, operations director and technical director. See also CEO succession Executive officer List of CEO books List of chief executive officers O*NET Oldest CEOs United States Department of Labor References ^ Professional English in Use – Finance, Ian MacKenzie, Cambridge University Press, 2006, p.16 ^ Effective Leadership Strategies for CEOs External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Chief executive officers 2008–2010 Study: CEOs Who Fired Most Workers Earned Highest Pay – video report by Democracy Now! v · d · eCorporate titles See also: template Aspects of corporations Titles Chief accounting officer · Chief administrative officer · Chief analytics officer · Chief audit executive · Chief brand officer · Chief channel officer · Chief commercial officer · Chief communications officer · Chief compliance officer · Chief data officer · Chief detail officer · Chief executive officer · Chief financial officer · Chief human resources officer · Chief information officer · Chief information security officer · Chief knowledge officer · Chief learning officer · Chief legal officer · Chief marketing officer · Chief networking officer · Chief operating officer · Chief procurement officer · Chief risk officer · Chief science officer · Chief strategy officer · Chief technology officer · Chief visionary officer · Chief Web Officer See also Board of directors · Chairman · Corner office · Corporate governance · Creative director · Executive director · Executive pay · Fiduciary · General counsel · Managing director · Non-executive director · Senior management · Supervisory board