CEO full form: Chief Executive Officer

How to say it: letter by letter.

CEO stands for Chief Executive Officer. The CEO is the most senior manager of a company, responsible for running it and for its results.

What a CEO does

• Sets the direction of the company with the board of directors and carries it out.
• Takes the major decisions: new products, new markets, large investments.
• Chooses and leads the senior management team.
• Speaks for the company to investors, the government and the public.
• Answers to the board of directors for performance.

CEO, MD and Chairman

These titles overlap, which causes confusion.

• The Chairman or Chairperson heads the board of directors, which represents the owners and supervises the management.
• The CEO heads the management, which runs the business from day to day.
• MD, Managing Director, is the title Indian company law uses for a director entrusted with substantial powers of management. In many Indian companies one person is "MD and CEO".

In some companies one person is both chairman and chief executive; in others the two posts are kept apart on purpose.

The "C-suite"

Senior posts whose titles begin with "Chief" are together called the C-suite.

• CFO: Chief Financial Officer.
• COO: Chief Operating Officer.
• CTO: Chief Technology Officer.
• CIO: Chief Information Officer.
• CMO: Chief Marketing Officer.
• CHRO: Chief Human Resources Officer.

The other CEO

In government, CEO can also mean Chief Electoral Officer, the official who supervises elections in a state, or the chief executive officer of a body such as a zila parishad.

Saying and writing it

CEO is said letter by letter and written in capitals without full stops. The plural is CEOs, with no apostrophe.

More office and business full forms

• BPO Business Process Outsourcing
• Pvt Ltd Private Limited
• LLP Limited Liability Partnership
• Inc Incorporated
• AGM Annual General Meeting
• CSR Corporate Social Responsibility
• TA Travelling Allowance
• DA Dearness Allowance

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Check what matters. These pages explain names and terms in general. Rules, dates, fees and limits change: take them from the official body. Read on 12 November 2026.