20110104 Business Executives (2)

Business Executives

The Chair of the Board

A chair is responsible for leading a company's board of directors. The chair presides over meetings, acts as the board's representative, and along with other board members, the chair helps set an organization's goals and policies. This person is also responsible for approving budgets and selecting and assessing executive officers like the CEO.

Chief Operating/Operations Officer (COO)

While a CEO is responsible for strategy, a chief operations (or operating) officer is responsible for the day-to-day operational management of an organization. A COO oversees the use of resources, and the design, production and delivery of goods or services. Like most other executives, a COO reports to the CEO but can also report directly to the board.

Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

A company's CFO is responsible for the organization's financial affairs. This usually means taking responsibility for financial planning, record keeping and reporting. In very large corporations, these responsibilities may be shared with other executives like chief accounting officer (CAO) or the chief investment office (CIO).

While many people aspire to top-level jobs, understanding that executive positions require time and commitment puts all those perks in a new light.

preside vi. 管轄/指揮/主持

preside over/at + O

=> in charge of some formal event

eg: Wesley will preside over the department meeting this afternoon.

=> Wesley會主持今天下午的部門會議

eg: The branch manager presides over the office's monthly meetings.

=> 分公司經理主持辦公室的月會

assess v. 評估/進行評價

=> judge the amount of quality of something

eg: Each employee is assessed by his or her supervisor annually.

=> 每位職員每一年都會被主管評估一次

eg: The stability of the computer system needs to be assessed thoroughly.

=> 這部電腦系統的穩定度需要徹底的評估

operate v. 運作

operational adj. 操作上的/運作上的

eg: The operational efficiency of our department needs to be improved if we want to keep our jobs.

=> 如果我們不想丟飯碗的話，我們部門的運作效率需要提高。

operational adj. 運作中的

eg: The new HR system is fully operational.

=> 新的人力資源系統已經全部運作正常

oversee v. 監視/監督/管理/看管

accounting n. 會計

//== Chat room ==//

affair n. 工作/事情/事務

eg: financial affairs 財務

eg: family affairs 家務事

eg: private affairs 私事

eg: public affairs 公務

a fare 一個車資票價

fare n. (大眾工具的)車資/票價

train fare 火車票價

taxi fare 計程車資

//== More information ==//

What's wrong with the word "chairman"? With few exceptions, the chairman of a company has always been a man. Now today, with more and more women reaching the highest levels of business management, chairwoman is sometimes used as the female counterpart to chairman. The term "chair" and "chairperson" are sometimes used to avoid gendered titles altogether, and thus avoid any potential offense.