Leadership Team Structure: 8 Roles in Top Management

The executive leadership team (ELT) is a group of leaders with the highest level of experience and authority within a corporation or an organization. Business professionals have also nicknamed this group of leaders the C-suite. These senior leaders are the primary decision-makers who steer the company in a progressive and lucrative direction.

Learn the hierarchy and responsibilities of eight important roles within a senior leadership team:

• Board of directors: This elected group represents the interests of stakeholders, who own shares of the company and vote in the board of directors. The board is responsible for hiring the CEO, determining the direction of the leadership team, and maintaining investor relations. Board members are often retired members of the company’s executive leadership team, majority stakeholders, or experts in the same field or a related field.
• Chief executive officer (CEO): This senior executive role is the highest-ranking position in the executive hierarchy. The CEO might be a cofounder or original creator of the company. In other cases, the board of directors might hire a high-performing senior executive who has risen through the ranks of corporate development. If a company decides to move in a new strategic direction, they might seek outside talent to refresh a stagnant or underperforming corporate culture.
• Chief operating officer (COO): For most company structures in North America, the COO is the second-in-command behind the CEO, although they often work hand in hand and share top-priority duties. The COO is the managing director responsible for daily operations and management of mid-level leadership roles.
  
• Executive vice president (VP): This role is highly collaborative with other senior leaders to track and motivate all department heads to meet their respective goals and core responsibilities. A vice president might also act as a mediator between the board of directors, the CEO, and other executive team members. The second-in-command of each department might also hold the vice president title. A vice president who has established tenure with a company might earn a promotion to become a senior vice president.
• Chief financial officer (CFO): This position is the general manager of finances for a company. A chief financial officer is responsible for forecasting the financial feasibility of future initiatives, supply chain constraints, and budget sustainability. Besides performing business administration tasks, a CFO might also work closely with the chief marketing officer to attract more business and track the return on investment of marketing strategies or research and development projects.
• Chief human resources officer (CHRO): This role is responsible for talent procurement, talent management, and employee retention. Nonbusiness professionals often confuse this role with the modern corporate title chief people officer (CPO). However, a CPO is responsible for establishing company culture. The CHRO has some responsibilities that overlap with the CPO, but their main focus is onboarding, offboarding, and guiding employees through benefits, such as stock options, savings programs, and health care plans.
• Chief information officer (CIO): Similar to a chief technology officer (CTO) in some companies, the CIO manages daily information technology (IT) operations. If the CIO manages chief technology officer responsibilities as well, they might implement emerging technologies that assist a company’s production goals. If a company has both CIO and CTO roles, it is paramount these department heads have exceptional communication and teamwork skills to coordinate any cross-team direct reports.
• Chief legal officer (CLO): Also known as the general counsel, this position is the head of an organization’s legal department. The CLO is vital in a corporation's decision-making process since they will guarantee all actions, contracts, and policies are legal and ethical.

Get the MasterClass Annual Membership for exclusive access to video lessons taught by business luminaries, including Howard Schultz, Chris Voss, Robin Roberts, Sara Blakely, Daniel Pink, Bob Iger, Anna Wintour, and more.