what is a chief executive officer ceo 
a chief executive officer ceo is the highest ranking executive in a company a ceo s primary responsibilities include making major corporate decisions driving the workforce and resources of a company toward strategic goals and acting as the main point of communication between the board of directors and corporate operations the chief executive officer serves as the public face of the company in many cases ceos are elected by the board and its shareholders they report to the chair and the board who are appointed by shareholders xiaojie liu investopediaceo s roles and responsibilitiesa ceo s role varies by company depending on its size culture and corporate structure ceos in large corporations typically deal only with very high level strategic decisions and those that direct the company s overall growth ceos may work on strategy organization and culture they may look at how capital is allocated across the firm or how to build teams to succeed they can also set the tone vision and sometimes the culture of their organizations ceos in smaller companies often are more hands on and involved with day to day functions a study from harvard business review analyzed how ceos spend their time they found that 72 of ceos working time was spent in meetings of the remaining working time 25 was spent on relationships 25 on business unit and functional reviews 21 on strategy and 16 on culture and organization the study showed that just 1 of their working time was spent on crisis management and 3 was allocated to customer relations 1a chief executive officer s roles and responsibilities also vary greatly between industries and organization sizes a ceo may generally be expected to take on some or all of these tasks ceo pay and notorietyceos also receive many other benefits based on their positions but the total compensation for the highest paid in 2023 was reportedly 161 826 161 the honor went to hock e tan ceo of broadcom inc this was an increase of 167 from the previous year 2the chief executive officers of large corporations often achieve fame or infamy because of their frequent dealings with the public examples include elon musk ceo of tesla tsla and steve jobs founder and ceo of apple aapl jobs became such a global icon that an explosion of both cinematic and documentary films about him emerged after his death in 2011 the leader of an organization may not be titled ceo although they might assume all the typical responsibilities of a ceo related chief positionscorporate america houses numerous titles of senior executives that begin with the letter c for chief this group of top senior staffers has come to be called c suite or c level in the corporate vernacular the ceo may also be serving as the chief financial officer cfo or the chief operating officer coo for small organizations or those that are still in the startup or growth phases this can lead to a lack of clarity and can overwork an executive assigning multiple titles to a single executive level individual can wreak havoc on a business s continuity and ultimately affect its long term profitability assigned titles and the functions associated with each can become muddled quickly when it comes to executive level positions within an organization the ceo directs the operational aspects of a company the board of directors oversees the company as a whole and is led by the chair of the board cob the chair of the board doesn t have the power to overrule the board but the board has the power to overrule the ceo s decisions the chair is effectively considered to be a peer of the other board members the ceo and the chair of the board can be the same person in some cases but many companies split these roles between two people this gives better governance and oversight of the work of the ceo the cfo is the chief financial officer of a company ceos manage general operations cfos focus specifically on financial matters a cfo analyzes a company s financial strengths and makes recommendations to improve financial weaknesses the cfo also tracks cash flow and oversees a company s financial planning such as investments and capital structures the cfo seeks to deliver returns to shareholders by focusing on financial discipline and driving margin and revenue growth the chief operating officer coo is often ranked second after the ceo their responsibilities fall on recruitment legal payroll and training along with administrative duties as the head of human resources the difference between ceo and other leadership titlesseveral other leadership titles may or may not overlap with a ceo the founder of a company is the individual who started it they helped bring the company into existence creating the bylaws and articles of incorporation organization structure and overall strategy from the first day a founder can be the title of an individual who s currently with a company or of an individual who started the company but has since left they can also be considered a founder and may be referred to as both simultaneously founder ceo if they helped to start the company a chairperson is a presiding officer who oversees a group or committee they may also be given the title of president they re in charge of managing the group of individuals often assigned a specific task or a set of responsibilities a board of directors often has a chairperson to oversee the management of the entire board a ceo may hold a chairperson position if they directly manage a committee an owner is a financial stakeholder of a company usually with an equity position in the business an owner may be entitled to the profits of a company in proportion to their percentage of ownership because companies can have multiple owners each individual might be referred to as a part owner if there s more than one a ceo can be an owner if they have a financial stake in the company the term director can refer to a few positions a director may be upper management or hold an executive level position depending on a company s organizational structure a director may be an individual serving on the board of an organization or a ceo might be a director level employee most companies ceos are on a higher tier employment level than directors however a ceo could also be under the direction of a director a ceo often reports to a board of directors who collectively make sure that the company is functioning well the impact of a ceo changemarkets can respond either positively or negatively to the change in company leadership during ceo transitions studies show that ceos can have a large impact on a company s performance one study found that 45 of company performance is influenced by the ceo 3 but another showed that ceos affect just 15 of variance in profitability 4the price of a company s stock could change for any number of reasons when a new ceo takes over a change in ceo generally carries more downside risk than upside particularly when it hasn t been planned a stock s price could swing up or down based on the market s perception of the new ceo s ability to lead the company other factors to consider when investing in a stock that s undergoing a management change include the incoming ceo s agenda whether there might be a shift in corporate strategy and how well the company s c suite is managing the transition phase investors tend to be more comfortable with new ceos who are already familiar with the dynamics of the company s industry and the specific challenges the company might be facing investors will typically assess a new ceo s track record for creating shareholder value a ceo s reputation could be reflected in areas like an ability to grow market share reduce costs or expand into new markets 