Director general

A director general or director-general, [pl: director-generals but often directors general in international organisations] or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a governmental, statutory, NGO, third sector or not-for-profit institution. It is commonly used in many countries worldwide, but with various meanings.

Australia

In most Australian states, the director-general is the most senior civil servant in any government department, reporting only to the democratically elected minister representing that department. In Victoria and the Australian Government, the equivalent position is the secretary of the department.

The Australian Defence Force Cadets has three Directors-General which are all one-star ranks:

• Director-General of the Australian Navy Cadets
• Director-General of the Australian Army Cadets
• Director-General of the Australian Air Force Cadets

Canada

In Canada, the title director general is used in the federal civil service, known as the Public Service of Canada. A director general in the federal government is typically not the most senior civil servant in a department. Directors general typically report to a more senior civil servant, such as an assistant deputy minister or associate deputy minister. The title "director general" is not usually used within the civil services of the ten provincial governments, nor the three territorial governments; instead, these civil services usually use the title "executive director", or "director". Deputy ministers are the highest level bureaucrat within the Canadian civil service at the federal, provincial and territorial levels. Deputy ministers are not politicians but professional bureaucrats. Outside the federal, provincial and territorial civil services, some public sector agencies such as school boards in Quebec use the title "director general".

European Union

ESO and ESA Directors-general sign cooperation agreement.^[1]

In the European Commission and the Council of the European Union, each department (called a directorate-general) is headed by a non-political director-general. This is roughly equivalent to a British permanent secretary.

France

In France, the similar word président-directeur général (PDG) means the highest person in a company, who is at the same time chairman (président) of board of directors and CEO (directeur général). From 2001 the two charges may be disjointed. The directeur général délégué has a role similar to that of a chief operating officer.

French ministries are divided in general directorates (directions générales), sometimes named central directorates (directions centrales) or simply directorates (directions), headed respectively by a directeur général, a directeur central, or a directeur.

Germany

In Germany, Generaldirektor may be used for the CEO of a large and established concern, corporation, company or enterprise, particularly if subordinates have the title director. The title is, however, unofficial (theoretically any person, and even practically every entrepreneur with one employee, may call himself director-general) and by now largely out of use. Officially a GmbH has a Geschäftsführer ("managing director"), an Aktiengesellschaft, and a board of executive directors (Vorstand) with a chairman (Vorstandsvorsitzender).

The term is also used by German Institute Taipei, Germany's informal representative mission to the Republic of China (Taiwan), to refer to its head of mission.^[2]

India

In India, there is a Director General of Police and Director General of Income Tax in each state. The Indian Coast Guard is headed by the Director General of Indian Coast Guard (DGICG). The National Security Guard is headed by the Director General of National Security Guard.

Italy

In Italy, the direttore generale of a company is a corporate officer who reports to the CEO (amministratore delegato) and has duties similar to a chief operating officer.

Some Italian ministries are divided into departments (dipartimenti) who are in turn divided into general directorates (direzioni generali) headed by a direttore generale. Other ministries, who do not have departments, are directly divided into general directorates. In Italian provinces and greatest communes, direttore generale is a chief administrative officer nominated by the president of province or by the mayor. The title of direttore generale is also given to the chief executive of an azienda sanitaria, a local public agency for health services.

Philippines

The word Director-General was used in the Philippines as a highest ranking law enforcer, which means the head of a law enforcement agency. Such agencies are:

• Philippine National Police
• Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency
• National Bureau of Investigation

Russia

A general director is the highest executive position in a Russian company, analogous to a US chief executive officer (CEO), or a UK managing director. The position exists for all Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) legal forms (e.g. joint stock companies (AO) and limited-liability companies (OOO)), except for sole proprietorships (IP).^[3]

The general director is the "single-person executive body" of a company. He or she acts without power of attorney to represent the company, and issues powers of attorney to others. His or her powers are defined by the company charter, by decision of the general meeting of shareholders (AO) or participants (OOO), and by the board of directors.^[4]

Spain

In Spain, México, and other Spanish-speaking countries, the term "director general" of a company (similar to a US corporation) is either the general manager or CEO of the company.

Sweden

In Sweden, the cognate word Generaldirektör (GD) is the generic title for the head of a State agency, unless otherwise prescribed by higher authority. For purposes of English translations, the word Director-General is officially used.

United Kingdom

In the UK's Civil Service, a director-general is now usually a Senior Civil Servant (SCS) at Pay Band 3 Level who heads up a group of other Directors and reports directly to the Permanent Secretary of a department.

For historical reasons it has also been retained as the professional title of the chief executive officers in some organisations which predate the current SCS structure and therefore may be used by those people despite them working at different pay bands. For example, the head of the UK's internal Security Service MI5 is also called a Director-General, despite the fact that the post is at Permanent Secretary (Pay Band 4) level. (See Her Majesty's Civil Service#Grading schemes for details.) Other organisations include the chief executive of the British Broadcasting Corporation, who also use the title but have no link to the civil service grading structure.

United States

This term is used in international organisations and government departments, although this sort of position is more commonly called an "executive director" or "managing director" in the United States.

Typically, the chief administrative officer of an opera company in the US holds the title of "General Director". Such is the case with singer and conductor Plácido Domingo, who currently functions in that capacity for the Los Angeles Opera, as he had previously for the Washington National Opera. In another prominent example, Speight Jenkins served as the general director of the Seattle Opera for over three decades. General directors are often responsible for artistic decisions, such as which operas to perform and which singers to hire, in addition to financial matters. The Metropolitan Opera is one of the few exceptions among US opera houses; the head of its administration is known as a "general manager" rather than a general director.

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