What Is The Role of a President of a Corporation?

There are three tiers of power in a corporation:

• the shareholders are the owners of the company;
• the directors run the company and are responsible for the its overall management;
• and the officers handle the day-to-day matters of the company as well as carry out the directors’ decisions and policies.

The appointing of officers is done by the Board of Directors of the company. The most notable officer titles are President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer. However, if required, the board can appoint other officers, such as a Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Chief Technology Officer (CTO), managers or any other title the board wishes to create.

Let’s first discuss what it takes to be the President of a company. The person who is President of a company is in the highest position within an organization and, in some cases, takes on the title of Chief Executive Officer as well. The President/CEO is often (but not always) the founder and owner of the business.  

In addition, he or she:

• creates, communicates and implements the organization’s vision, mission and overall direction.
• hires, fires and manages all employees of the company.
• leads, guides, directs and evaluates all other officers, managers and employees, and ensures they are carrying out the daily operations of the company.
• meets regularly with other officers or managers of the company to make sure that the decisions the organization needs to make are prescient and strategic.
• confirms that all officers and managers are conveying the company’s philosophies and guidelines to their own teams so that all employees understand the expectations of the company.
• oversees all the financials aspects of the company and maintains awareness of both external and internal opportunities for expansion, customers, markets, new industry developments and standards.

While these are general terms of a corporate President’s duties, they may differ in individual organizations. 

Next: Officers of a Corporation