Hi ETLC Colleagues! I'm hoping you have a few minutes to share your experience and insight, to help a client make a decision within the next week. For those of you who've helped organizations design a job description for an executive hire: did an org. make the decision between a title of Executive Director vs. CEO? If so, what factors/considerations went into your decision? Some of my client's current considerations: a). they have a $2.6 mil budget; b). currently there are no other C-level positions in leadership (all Directors of Finance, Development etc.); and, c). they don't want to discourage an applicant who wouldn't consider the position unless it was CEO. I appreciate hearing your thoughts, or links to some good resources to help them make the decision. Thanks, Mary
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I find that the use of most titles is external facing and what the community/candidate expects. In Jacksonville over about a five year period, nearly all the EDs became CEOs. They watched other orgs and made the change as an unofficial and uncoordinated group action. So my thought is that it’s more about norms in that community as well as in the vertical specialization of the organization if it’s a search outside of the local community. Funder expectations might also play a role here – there’s probably not any research but an informal conversation with your client’s key funders might be insightful.
I'm seeing more transitions to the use of the CEO term. In the charity where I sit on the board, I suggested the change after our budget and scope significantly increased, and we delegated more authority because we often need very quick action that can't wait for a board or committee meeting.
Some directors thought the ED might not want the change, since the other organizations in our sector were mostly still using ED. But she jumped at it, saying it would really help with major donors, government relations and corporate support. Besides, we are the third largest organization in Canada in our sector; we don't have to wait for smaller ones to be ready.
Thanks Jane and Julia. These comments were very helpful.