A chief executive officer (CEO, American English), managing director (MD, British English) or chief executive, is the highest-ranking corporate officer (executive) or administrator in charge of total management of an organization. An individual appointed as a CEO of a corporation, company, organization, or agency typically reports to the board of directors.

Responsibilities

The responsibilities of an organization's CEO are set by the organization's Board of Directors or other authority, depending on the organization's legal structure. They can be far reaching or quite limited and are typically enshrined in a formal delegation of authority.

Typically, the CEO has responsibilities as a communicator, decision maker, leader, and manager. The communicator role can involve the press and the rest of the outside world, as well as the organization's management and employees; the decision making role involves high-level decisions about policy and strategy. As a leader, the CEO advises the board of directors, motivates employees, and drives change within the organization. As a manager, the CEO presides over the organization's day-to-day, month-to-month, and year-to year operations.

International use

In some European Union countries, there are two separate boards, one executive board for the day-to-day business and one supervisory board for control purposes (elected by the shareholders). In these countries, the CEO presides over the executive board and the chairman presides over the supervisory board, and these two roles will always be held by different people. This ensures a distinction between management by the executive board and governance by the supervisory board. This allows for clear lines of authority. The aim is to prevent a conflict of interest and too much power being concentrated in the hands of one person. In the United States, the board of directors (elected by the shareholders) is often equivalent to the supervisory board, while the executive board may often be known as the executive committee (the division/subsidiary heads and C-level officers that report directly to the CEO).

In other parts of the world, such as Asia, it is possible to have two or three ''CEO''s in charge of one corporation. In the UK, many charities and government agencies are headed by a chief executive who is answerable to a board of trustees or board of directors. In the UK, similar to a sizable percentage of public companies in the US, the chairman of the board in public companies is more senior than the chief executive (who is usually known as the managing director).

The following presents an alphabetical list of some international common terms for the CEO position:

''Al-Rais Al-Tanithi'' (Chief Executive)

Australia: general manager (GM) (or also managing director (MD), but only when the executive officeholder is also a member of the board of directors)

''Shǒuxí zhíxíng guān/xíngzhèng zǒngcá'' (Chief Executive Officer) (administrating director) (Adm.Dir.) (general manager) (executive director) (executive director) (TJ) (chairman & chief executive) (P.D-G) (GmbH) or (AG) ''Genikos Aieuthuntic'' (general manager) ''Mankal/Menahel Klali'' (Director General)

India: CEO or managing director (MD)

(Presdir/Dirut) (POF) (delegated administrator) (AD) ''Saikō keiei-sha'' (Chief Menager) ''choegogyeong-yeongja'' (Chief Executive Officer) (chairman of the board) (general director) (izvrshen direktor - executive director) or also (generalen direktor - general director) (administrating director) (adm. dir.) ''Mudir Amal'' (Chief Executive) (general director) (PCA) (generalnyi direktor – general director) (CEO / MD) (executive director) (VD) (CEO / MD) (Holovnyi vykonavchyi dyrektor - Head executive director), also ''Генеральний директор'' (Heneral'nyi dyrektor – General director)}} ''Chif Igzikutu Afisr'' (Chief Executive Officer)

In the United States, and in business, the executive officers are usually the top officers of a corporation, the chief executive officer (CEO) being the best-known type. The definition varies; for instance, the California Corporate Disclosure Act defines "Executive Officers" as the five most highly-compensated officers not also sitting on the board of directors. In the case of a sole proprietorship, an executive officer is the sole proprietor. In the case of a partnership, an executive officer is a managing partner, senior partner, or administrative partner. In the case of a limited liability company, an executive officer is any member, manager, or officer.

Related positions

Typically, a CEO has several subordinate executives, each of whom has specific functional responsibilities.

Common associates include a chief business development officer (CBDO), chief financial officer (CFO), chief operating officer (COO), chief marketing officer (CMO), chief information officer (CIO), chief communications officer (CCO), chief legal officer (CLO), chief technical officer (CTO), chief risk officer (CRO), chief creative officer (CCO), chief compliance officer (CCO), chief audit executive (CAE), chief diversity officer (CDO), or chief human resources officer (CHRO).

In hospitals and healthcare organizations, this also often includes a chief medical officer (CMO), a chief nursing officer (CNO), and a chief medical informatics officer (CMIO).

In the United Kingdom the term 'director' is used instead of 'chief officer'. Associates include the audit executive, business development director, chief executive, compliance director, creative director, director of communications, diversity director, financial director, human resources director, information technology director, legal affairs director, managing director (MD), marketing director, operations director and technical director.

See also

CEO succession

Executive officer

List of CEO books

List of chief executive officers

O*NET

Oldest CEOs

United States Department of Labor

References

External links

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics - Top Executives: Description and Outlook

2008–2010 Study: CEOs Who Fired Most Workers Earned Highest Pay – video report by ''Democracy Now!''

Category:Business and financial operations occupations Category:Corporate governance Category:Management occupations

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Name	Patty Griffin
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Patricia Jean Griffin
Birth date	March 16, 1964
Origin	Old Town, Maine, United States
Instrument	Guitar, piano
Genre	Folk-rock, Americana, folk, alt-country
Occupation	MusicianSinger-songwriter
Years active	1992–present
Label	A&M;ATO RecordsCredential Recordings
Associated acts	Dixie Chicks, Emmylou Harris, Sweet Harmony Traveling Revue, Joshua Radin, Band of Joy
Website	Official Website
Notable instruments	}}

Patty Griffin, born Patricia Jean Griffin, March 16, 1964, is an American Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter and musician. She is especially known for her down-home crafting of songs and her connection to musicians including Emmylou Harris, Ellis Paul, and the Dixie Chicks, who have played with her onstage as well as performing cover songs of Griffin's work, exposing many of her compositions to mainstream pop and country music audiences outside Griffin's folk music circle of fans. She was also recipient of the Americana Music Association's highest honor as "Artist of the Year" in 2007, as well as taking home the award for best album for ''Children Running Through''. In 2011, Griffin won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Gospel Album for ''Downtown Church''.

Biography

Early years

Patty Griffin is from Old Town, Maine, United States, next to the Penobscot Native American reservation. She is primarily a guitarist, pianist, and vocalist, with a distinctive voice. The youngest child in her family with six older siblings, she bought a guitar for $50 at age 16, and sang and played, but had no inclination at the time to become a professional musician. After a short marriage which ended in 1992, Griffin began playing in Boston coffee houses, and was scouted by A&M; Records, who signed Griffin on the strength of her demo tape; however A&M; thought it to be overproduced, so Nile Rodgers and A&M; instead released a stripped-down reworking of her demo tape, as an album called ''Living with Ghosts.''

Griffin's second album, 1998's ''Flaming Red'' was a departure from the acoustic sound of ''Living with Ghosts'', with a mix of mellow songs along with other, very high tempo rock and roll songs. The title track, "Flaming Red" is an example of this, beginning with an even beat until it increases to a fevered pitch of emotion. "Tony" from this album is also featured on the charity benefit album ''Live in the X Lounge''.

Her third record, ''Silver Bell'' had a similar sound to its predecessor, though it was also unreleased by A&M.; A&M; dropped Griffin's contract after ''Silver Bell'', but she was picked up by Dave Matthews' ATO Records. Griffin re-recorded songs from that album for later releases such as "Making Pies", "Mother of God," "Standing," and "Top of the World" and others have been most famously covered by the Dixie Chicks. Copies of the unreleased ''Silver Bell'' were leaked and bootlegged, and can now be easily acquired via the "B&P;" (Blanks and Postage) method on message boards. Four albums have followed so far on ATO, including 2002's ''1000 Kisses'', ''A Kiss in Time'' (2003), ''Impossible Dream'' (2004), ''Children Running Through''(2007),

In 2004, Griffin toured with Emmylou Harris, Buddy Miller, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings as the Sweet Harmony Traveling Revue. On February 6, 2007, she released ''Children Running Through''. The album debuted at #34 on the Billboard 200 with 27,000 copies sold. Of the album, Griffin told ''Gibson Lifestyle'', “I just kind of felt like singing what I wanted to sing, and playing how I wanted to play. It’s not all dark and tragic. It’s a different way for me to look at things. Getting old—older, I should say, I’m not so serious all the time.” It was also said that the album was inspired by her childhood days.

Griffin's songs have been recorded by artists such as Irish-born singer Maura O'Connell ("Long Ride Home"), Linda Ronstadt ("Falling Down"), the Dixie Chicks ("Truth No. 2," "Top of the World," "Let Him Fly"), Bette Midler ("Moses"), Beth Nielsen Chapman, Christine Collister, and Dixie Chicks ("Mary"), Mary Chapin Carpenter ("Dear Old Friend"), Jessica Simpson ("Let Him Fly"), Martina McBride ("Goodbye"), Melissa Ferrick and Missy Higgins ("Moses"), Emmylou Harris ("One Big Love", "Moon Song"), Bethany Joy Galeotti ("Blue Sky"), The Wreckers ("One More Girl"), Keri Noble ("When It Don't Come Easy"), Joan Osborne ("What You Are"), Solomon Burke ("Up to the Mountain (MLK Song)"), and Miranda Lambert ("Getting Ready"). Kelly Clarkson performed "Up to the Mountain (MLK Song)" with Jeff Beck on guitar, accompanied by some orchestration on the ''Idol Gives Back'' episode of ''American Idol'', and the live recording was released as a single immediately afterwards, reaching #56 on the Billboard Hot 100 in its first week and giving Griffin her highest charting position as a songwriter. (The audience gave Clarkson a standing ovation following her performance.) Griffin herself had said that when she heard Burke's version of the song, she almost did not feel worthy of singing it herself anymore. Griffin's version of the song was featured on the fourth season, episode 11 of the popular ABC television show, ''Grey's Anatomy''.

Instruments

1965 Gibson J-50 Guitar1993 Gibson J-200 Junior Guitar

Recent work

In September 2008, Griffin was featured on the album ''Simple Times'' by indie artist Joshua Radin, duetting on the song "You Got Growing Up to Do." In October 2008, she appeared in background vocals on Todd Snider's cover of John Fogerty's "Fortunate Son" for Snider's ''Peace Queer'' album. In February 2009, Griffin was featured on the album ''Feel That Fire'' by Dierks Bentley, duetting on the song "Beautiful World".

In 2009, Patty Griffin, along with Mavis Staples and The Tri-City Singers released a version of the song "Waiting For My Child to Come Home" on the compilation album ''Oh Happy Day: An All-Star Music Celebration''.

The collaboration with Staples led EMI's Peter York to suggest Griffin make an album of gospel songs. Griffin agreed on the condition that friend and bandmate Buddy Miller produced the record. Griffin's sixth studio album, ''Downtown Church'', was recorded at the Downtown Presbyterian Church in Nashville and was released on January 26, 2010. The album features long-time friends Buddy and Julie Miller, as well as Shawn Colvin and Emmylou Harris. It features songs by Hank Williams, Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton, and "All Creatures of Our God and King," a song accredited to St. Francis of Assisi.

In July 2010, Robert Plant toured the United States with Band of Joy (reprising the name of his very first band in the 1960s). Patty Griffin toured with them as a backing vocalist to Plant, along with singer-guitarist Buddy Miller, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Darrell Scott, bassist-vocalist Byron House, and drummer-percussionist-vocalist Marco Giovino. She is also featured on Plant's solo album, Band of Joy, which was released in September 2010 by Rounder Records.

Film, television, and theater

Griffin has appeared in several movies including ''Cremaster 2'' and in Cameron Crowe's ''Elizabethtown'' the soundtrack of which also included her song "Long Ride Home" and a cover of "Moon River" by Johnny Mercer and Henry Mancini.

In 2007, the Atlantic Theater Company produced ''10 Million Miles'', an Off Broadway musical with Griffin's music as the soundtrack, and a book by Keith Bunin, directed by Michael Mayer.

Griffin's first DVD, "Patty Griffin: Live From The Artists Den" was filmed on February 6, 2007 at the Angel Orensanz Foundation For the Arts on New York’s Lower East Side and released later that year. Selections from the DVD were featured on the program ''Live from the Artists Den'' on Ovation TV beginning January 24, 2008.

In 2007, Griffin was singled out by the Americana Music Association and awarded their top honor: Artist of the Year, and her album ''Children Running Through'' also received an honor from the Association. She performed "Trapeze" with Emmylou Harris harmonizing.

On June 13, 2008 Griffin performed an acoustic in the round set in Nashville, Tennessee with Kris Kristofferson and Randy Owen (Alabama) for a special taping of a PBS songwriters series to be aired in December 2008. Each performer played five songs. In Griffin's case, it features "Making Pies," "No Bad News," "Up to the Mountain," and "Mary."

Griffin's song "Not Alone" (sometimes attributed as "You Are Not Alone"), from her first album, ''Living with Ghosts'', was featured in the soundtrack for the hit television series, ''Without a Trace'', in 2009. It also plays over the final scenes and end credits of the film ''Niagara, Niagara'' (1997).

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Details	Peak chart positions
		! width="35"	! width="35"	! width="35"	! width="35"	! width="35"
''Living with Ghosts''		* Release date: May 21, 1996	* Label: A&M; Records	* Formats: ''[[Flaming Red">Compact disc	—	—	—	—	—
''[[Flaming Red''		* Release date: June 23, 1998	* Label: A&M; Records	* Formats: CD, cassette	—	—	—	—	—
''1000 Kisses''		* Release date: April 9, 2002	* Label: ATO Records	* Formats: CD, cassette	101	—	—	—	—
''Impossible Dream''		* Release date: April 20, 2004	* Label: ATO Records	* Formats: CD, music download	67	—	—	—	—
''Children Running Through''		* Release date: February 6, 2007	* Label: ATO Records	* Formats: CD, music download	34	—	—	2	—
''Downtown Church''		* Release date: January 26, 2010	* Label: Credential Recordings	* Formats: CD, music download	38	1	1	—	7

Live albums

Title	Details
''A Kiss in Time''		* Release date: October 7, 2003	* Label: ATO Records	* Formats: CD, cassette

Other contributions

''Lilith Fair: A Celebration of Women in Music'' (1998) - "Cain" (recorded live during the 1997 tour)

''Live at the World Café: Vol. 15 - Handcrafted'' (2002, World Café) - "Rain"

''107.1 KGSR Radio Austin - Broadcasts Vol.10'' (2002) - "Rain"

''Elizabethtown'' Soundtrack (2005, RCA Records) - "Long Ride Home", "Moon River"

''Oh Happy Day'' (2009, EMI Gospel/Vector Recordings) - "Waiting For My Child To Come Home" (with Mavis Staples and The Tri-City Singers)

''Live at the World Cafe: Vol. 5'' (1997, World Cafe Records) - "Every Little Bit"

''Live at the World Cafe: Vol. 16 - Sweet Sixteen'' (World Cafe Records) - "Makin' Pies"

Guest singles

Year	Single	Artist	Peak positions	Album
			! width="60"
2009		Jack Ingram	54

References

External links

Official website

Patty Griffin at the Internet Off Broadway Database

Category:1964 births Category:American female singers Category:American singer-songwriters Category:American folk singers Category:American folk guitarists Category:American female guitarists Category:ATO Records artists Category:A&M; Records artists Category:Credential Recordings artists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Maine Category:People from Old Town, Maine Category:Performers of Christian music

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