Executive Management

Executive management consists of the personnel at the top of the organizational chart. Many nonprofit organizations and government agencies also have a senior management team that fosters their culture, management principles, and guiding policies.

These executives set the mission and craft the vision of the organization, create and implement the budget, lead the strategic planning effort, and foster the organization's reputation and internal culture. They select operating standards, design and defend brand equity, foster the culture of the organization, and set the tone for the quality of relationships that [Page 309]are developed and maintained with the organization's markets, publics, and targeted audiences. With or without the counsel of senior practitioners, executives create public relations for their organization, whether by design or default.

The executive management team is divided by function. Function heads take their titles from the unique activities for which they are responsible. Executives oversee the various functions they direct.

The person at the pinnacle of the organizational chart is the chief executive officer (CEO). In most organizations, whether business or nonprofit, this person reports to a board of directors. The CEO might be the chairman of the board, but this is not always the case. The typical executive arrangement empowers the board to fire a CEO and hire a replacement. The board helps set the direction—mission and vision—of the business, as well as advises its strategic planning. Nonprofits often have a similar arrangement; for instance, the CEO of a university is the president (or chancellor), who reports to a board of trustees. Many foundations and charitable nonprofits have a similar structural arrangement, with a board serving in a planning oversight capacity.

Beneath the CEO is a layer of executives, each one of which is responsible for her or his broad set of functions. The chief financial officer (CFO) or treasurer is accountable for the financial position of the business as well as its compliance with Securities and Exchange Commission regulations, in the case of a publicly traded company. The chief operating officer (COO) is responsible for the operations intended to make the organization successful because they generate revenue. Rare is the organization that does not have some variation of CEO, CFO, or COO—by whatever title. The CEO might also be president or the COO might be president, especially if the CEO is chairman of the board.

Various organizations, depending on their nature and position in the economy, will have additional function heads at the “C” level, or the persons at this level might hold the title of executive vice president, vice president, or manager. The specific titles are sensitive to the culture of the organization and the industry or nonprofit sector where it operates. Persons at this level might be in charge of marketing, public relations or public affairs (or corporate communication), technology, domestic activities, global activities, manufacturing, and other areas. In the nonprofit world, a typical title at this level would be the chief development officer, who is in charge of raising money.

The key to understanding executive management is to realize that the first two or three levels in the organizational chart are accountable for all of the important functions needed to make the organization successful. Every activity that counts for the organization's success is brought together into the purview of senior management.

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