Director (business)

A director is a person from a group of managers who leads or supervises a particular area of a company, program, or project.Companies that use this term often have many directors spread throughout different business functions or roles (e.g. director of human resources). The director usually reports directly to a vice president or to the CEO directly in order to let them know the progress of the organization. Large organizations also sometimes have assistant directors or deputy directors. Director commonly refers to the lowest level of executive in an organization, but many large companies use the title of associate director more frequently. Some companies also have regional directors and area directors. Regional directors are present in companies that are organized by location and have their departments under that. They are responsible for the operations for their particular country. Though directors are the first stage in the executive team, area directors are seen as higher up, based on their area of control.

Corporate titles (commonly known as business titles) are titles given to individuals within a business depending on the role they have and which also portray the duties and responsibilities within that specific role. The larger the business, the more titles that are present, such as CEO, COO and executive directors.

Those that have higher roles within a company such as the elite positions are often referred to as "chief" and those that have lower roles within the company are employees that simply carry out day-to-day tasks. There are many titles within a company such as executive director, managing director, company director and chairman.

The corporate structure consists of four key areas:

US law requires every company to create specific positions such as treasurer, president and secretary. American businesses are usually controlled by a chief executive officer (CEO). However, in other businesses, the CEO also has the title of a president, with each playing different roles, such as the president being in charge of internal management while the CEO is in charge of external relations. In the UK, a managing director is usually linked to the role of a CEO. The roles are similar and to some extent the same, the only difference being the corporate title.

Depending upon the size of an organization or a company, the number of directors can vary. Start-up companies can have a single director, which is the minimum for a private limited company according to the law. However, as organizations and businesses expand, the number of directors can increase because more tasks and responsibilities become present. For example, if the company expands and has more than one department, such as finance, sales, marketing, production and IT, then the business may form a board of directors, with each director overseeing a department and maintaining full responsibility within that department.

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