"C" Titles: The Crowd at the Top

Masada, public domain

Though the Forbes article quoted below was first published in 2012, the continued onslaught of C titles has invited a re-examination of the new corporate power structure based on rank.

I think we do have a  flattened pyramid of corporate hierarchy compared to the by-gone days of the last century's elite few at the top. 

With so many c-level titles, you can take a long walk on the high  "mesa" of the executive circle before reaching the edge.

 C Is For Silly: The New C-Suite Titles
by Genna Goudreau

Excerpt: ...Peter Cappelli, management professor at the University of Pennsylvania, says the new titles are meant to signal—internally, to customers or to governments—that a particular function or task is important and that the people at the top are listening. They may also be a form of ego appeasing and identifying who the important senior people are. “The main question,” he says, “is whether there’s any real substance behind them.”...

Read full article here.

Here is a Wikipedia list of C-titles:
Corporate titles

• Executive or Non-Executive Chairperson, Chairman or Chairman of the Board[1] – presiding officer of the corporate Board of directors. The Chairman influences the board of directors, which in turn elects and removes the officers of a corporation and oversees the human, financial, environmental and technical operations of a corporation. The CEO may be combined with that of chairman to form the position of executive chairman. Recently,[when?] though, many companies have separated the roles of Chairman and CEO, resulting in a non-executive chairman, in order to improve corporate governance.
• Chief accounting officer
• Chief administrative officer
• Chief Analytics Officer or CAO – high level corporate manager with overall responsibility for the analysis and interpretation of data relevant to a company's activities; generally reports to the CEO, or COO.
• Chief Audit Executive or CAE; high level 'independent' corporate executive with overall responsibility for the Internal audit.
• Chief Blogger A chief blogger is a person who represents a brand through blogs and social media.
• Chief Business Officer
• Chief Business Development Officer or CBDO.
• Chief Brand Officer or CBO – a relatively new executive level position at a corporation, company, organization, or agency, typically reporting directly to the CEO or board of directors. The CBO is responsible for a brand's image, experience, and promise, and propagating it throughout all aspects of the company. The brand officer oversees marketing, advertising, design, public relations and customer service departments. The brand equity of a company is seen as becoming increasingly dependent on the role of a CBO.
• Chief commercial officer or CCO - the executive responsible for commercial strategy and development
• Chief Communications Officer or CCO.
• Chief Compliance Officer - in charge of regulatory compliance, especially Sarbanes-Oxley.
• Chief Creative Officer
• Chief Credit Officer or CCO.
• Chief Customer Officer - responsible in customer-centric companies for the total relationship with an organization’s customers.
• Chief Data Officer or CDO
• Chief Electrification Officer - responsible for electrical generating and distribution systems. The title was used mainly in developed countries from the 1880s to 1940s during the electrification of industry, but is still used in some developing countries.
• Chief Engineering Officer - similar to the more common CTO; responsible for technology/product R & D and/or manufacturing issues in a technology company. This position is generally separate from any internal IT functions (the realm of the CIO). This title occurs more in those technology companies that make products other than software, but increasingly CTO is used instead now in both software and non-software industries alike to refer to overseeing the development of technology being commercialized.
• Chief Executive Officer or CEO (United States), Chief Executive or Managing director (United Kingdom, Commonwealth and some other English speaking countries) – The CEO of a corporation is the highest ranking management officer of a corporation and has final decisions over human, financial, environmental, technical operations of the corporation. The CEO is also a visionary, often leaving day-to-day operations to the President, COO or division heads. Other corporate officers such as the COO, CFO, CIO, and division heads report to the CEO. The CEO is also often the Chairman of the Board, especially in closely held corporations and also often in public corporations. Recently, though, many public companies have separated the roles of Chairman and CEO (This is long-standing normal practice under the British System), resulting in a non-executive chairman, in order to improve corporate governance. President and CEO is a popular combination if there is a non-executive chairman.
• Chief Financial Officer or CFO – high level corporate officer with oversight of corporate finances; reports to the CEO. May concurrently hold the title of Treasurer or oversee such a position; it must be noted that Finance deals with accounting and audits, while Treasurer deals with company funds.
• Chief Human Resources Officer or CHRO
• Chief Information Officer or CIO – high level corporate manager with overall responsibility for the company's information resources and processing environment; generally reports to the CEO or COO. Particularly important in IT companies or companies that rely heavily on an IT infrastructure for their operations.
• Chief Information Security Officer or CISO.
• Chief Innovation Officer
• Chief Intellectual Property Officer or CIPO - responsible for the management of the IP assets and potential IP-related liabilities of the enterprise.
• Chief Investment Officer or CIO – high level corporate officer responsible for the assets of an investment vehicle or investment management company and/or responsible for the asset-liability management (ALM) of typical large financial institutions such as insurers, banks and/or pension funds; generally reports to the CEO or CFO.
• Chief Knowledge Officer or CKO – high level corporate officer responsible for ensuring that the organization maximizes the value it achieves through "knowledge".
• Chief Legal Officer or CLO, the CLO is traditionally referred to as the General Counsel, or GC;
• Chief Learning Officer or CLO, the CLO is commonly responsible for all Learning/Training Operations.
• Chief Listening Officer The chief listener essentially listens to customers through tools such as social media.
• Chief Marketing Officer or CMO.
• Chief Medical Officer or CMO; especially in a pharmaceutical company, the person responsible for scientific and medical excellence of the company's research, development and products.
• Chief Networking Officer or CNO – responsible for the social capital within the company and between the company and its partners
• Chief Operating Officer or COO – high level corporate officer with responsibility for the daily operation of the company; reports to the CEO. The COO often also carries the title of President, especially if the number one is the Chairman and CEO.
• Chief Performance Officer
• Chief Privacy Officer
• Chief Process Officer or CPO.
• Chief Procurement Officer or CPO.
• Chief Product Officer or CPO.
• Chief Promotions Officer or CPO.
• Chief Revenue Officer or CRO; Responsible for all revenue within the organization.
• Chief Risk Officer (Chief Risk Management Officer) or CRO. Common in financial institutions.
• Chief Sales Officer or CSO; responsible for all sales/revenue within the organization.
• Chief Science Officer responsible for research, development and new technologies.
• Chief Search Officer responsible for research, development and planning of brand search marketing.
• Chief Security Officer or CSO.
• Chief Specialist Officer or CSO. VP level corporate officer responsible for a specific function or area at corporate level.
• Chief Strategy Officer (Chief Strategic Planning Officer) or CSO (CSPO).
• Chief Supply Chain Officer or CSCO; high level corporate officer responsible for the supply chain management of the company.
• Chief Tax Officer or CTO – high level corporate officer responsible for the tax function (compliance, accounting and planning) within a company. The CTO may report to the CEO, CFO, general counsel or the internal audit function.
• Chief Technical Officer or CTO – (sometimes Chief Technology Officer) high level corporate officer responsible for the company's technology/R&D direction. Now common in both IT/software and other technological fields as well, the focus on this position is typically overseeing the development of technology to be commercialized. (For an IT company, the subject matter would be similar to the CIO's, however the CTO's focus is technology for the firm to sell vs. technology used for facilitating the firm's own operations.)
• Chief visionary officer
• Chief Web Officer
• Chief International officer or CIO Responsible for development and implementation of overseas markets
• Chief eXperience Officer or CXO is the person who is responsible of quality of Customer Service experience in any organization
• Financial Control Officer, FCO or FC, also Comptroller or Controller: supervises accounting and financial reporting within an organization.