A Chief Executive Officer (CEO) or Chief Executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer (executive) or administrator in charge of total management of an organization. An individual appointed as CEO of a corporation, company, organization, or agency reports to the board of directors.
Contents |
The responsibility of the chief executive officer is to align the company, internally and externally, with their 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.[1]
In many states, when an organization incorporates it is necessary to specify individuals in the role of President, Treasurer, and Secretary with the proviso that the person nominated as President cannot also hold the position of Treasurer. 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 times creates the position of Treasurer.
Boards should not have Presidents or Treasurers, but Boards and Corporations both need Secretaries.
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(man) (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.
In Russia, a CEO is known as Russian: генеральный директор (generalnyi direktor). In France, a CEO/MD is known as the "PDG" (French: président directeur général); in Sweden, the CEO/MD is known as "VD" (Swedish: verkställande direktör); in Australia, the CEO can be known as the GM (General Manager) or the MD (Managing Director) but only when the executive officeholder is also a member of the board of directors; in India, it is either Managing Director or CEO though CEOs are very common especially with the startup boom; in Pakistan it's called MD (Managing Director); in Spain, the usual name is "Director General, the others mostly commonly used being "Director Ejecutivo" or "Consejero Delegado";" while in Italy, the position is called "AD" (Italian: amministratore delegato). In Denmark and Norway the CEO is known as the "Administrerende Direktør", abbr. Adm.Dir. In Finland, CEO is known as "TJ" (Finnish: toimitusjohtaja). In Macedonia and Bulgaria the CEO is known as "Генерален Директор". In Hungary, CEO is known as "ügyv. ig." (Hungarian: Ügyvezető Igazgató).
In the US, 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.
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), and a director, or Vice-President of Human Resources.
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).
|
|||||||||||