A chief executive officer (CEO in American English) or managing director (MD in British English) describes the position of the most senior corporate officer, executive, or administrator in charge of managing an organization. The CEO of a corporation or company typically reports to the board of directors and is charged with maximizing the value of the entity. Titles also often given to the holder of the CEO position include president and chief executive (CE).

Responsibilities

The responsibilities of an organization's CEO are set by the organization's board of directors or other authority, depending on the organization's legal structure. They can be far-reaching or quite limited and are typically enshrined in a formal delegation of authority.

Typically, the CEO/MD has responsibilities as a director, decision maker, leader, manager and executor. The communicator role can involve the press and the rest of the outside world, as well as the organization's management and employees; the decision-making role involves high-level decisions about policy and strategy. As a leader of the company, the CEO/MD advises the board of directors, motivates employees, and drives change within the organization. As a manager, the CEO/MD presides over the organization's day-to-day operations. The term refers to the person who takes all the decisions regarding the upliftment of the company, which includes all sectors and fields of the business like operations, marketing, business Development, finance, Human resources, etc. The CEO of a company is not necessarily the owner of the company.

Chief executive is an alternate form for chief executive officer, the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators.

Chief executive may also refer to:

In local government in the Republic of Ireland, the chief executive of a city or county is the senior permanent official of its local authority. Whereas the county council and city council are elected officials who formulate policy, the chief executive is an appointed official who manages the implementation of policy. The position was introduced in 1929–42 based on the American council–manager government model, and until 2014 the chief executive was styled the county manager or city manager. Their salaries range from €132,511 to €189,301 per annum. The County and City Management Association (formerly the County and City Managers' Association) is the professional association for chief executives, and it is affiliated to the International City/County Management Association (ICMA).

History

The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 established elected county and town councils with executive authority, with the Local Government Board for Ireland having the power to dissolve councils which did not comply with their statutory obligations. After the Irish Free State was established in 1922, the Local Government Board's functions were taken by the Minister for Local Government. During and immediately after the Irish Civil War, the Minister dissolved several councils, including those of Dublin and Cork cities, and replaced each with an unelected commissioner. In both cities, there was a body of opinion that the services provided by the councils were delivered more efficiently and fairly under the commissioners than under the previous system, where the executive function had been, in effect, vested in the councils and their committees.