How To Become A President/Chief Executive Officer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a president/chief executive officer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

We are all aware of famous chief executive officers (CEO) such as Tim Cook, Elon Musk, Warren Buffet, Satya Nadella, and Sundar Pichai. Stock prices, market adoption, product innovation, and economic prosperity are all affected by the decisions of these CEOs. We can imagine how much brainpower is used daily to run operations of a company valued at $1 trillion.

The primary role of a chief executive officer is to manage the resources and operations of an organization. Daily, they are involved in developing operational strategies, launching marketing initiatives, managing staff operations, and overseeing business pricing structures. Besides that, they also monitor financial performance, lead system improvements, and facilitate compliance programming.

To be a CEO, one must at least have a bachelor's degree. It could be one that is business-related or more specialized, such as engineering. More importantly, work experience in a senior management role must be shown, such as a director of an operation or a vice president in a specific department. A chief executive officer earns, on average, $100 per hour.

ScorePresident/Chief Executive OfficerUS Average

Salary

10.0

Avg. Salary $240,732

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

10.0

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

1.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.64%

Asian 7.57%

Black or African American 3.72%

Hispanic or Latino 7.67%

Unknown 3.89%

White 76.51%

Gender

female 21.08%

male 78.92%

Age - 52

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 52

Stress level

10.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

10.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.0

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a president/chief executive officer

Explore president/chief executive officer education requirements

Most common president/chief executive officer degrees

Bachelor's

63.9 %

Master's

18.4 %

Associate

8.8 %

Start to develop specific president/chief executive officer skills

Skills	Percentages
Financial Management	10.36%
Revenue Growth	6.88%
R	6.44%
Product Development	5.77%
Strategic Partnerships	5.26%

Research president/chief executive officer duties and responsibilities

Achieve consistent annual growth in revenue and EBITDA through a combination of organic sales growth and add on acquisitions.
Direct internal operations to achieve budget results and other financial criteria, metrics, KPI s, reporting and governance.
Develop and manage online retail presence utilizing SEO and SEM strategies to improve Google and search engine rank increasing online revenues.
Install KPI's (key performance indicators) to manage project work flow, input development and accountability programs by department.

Get president/chief executive officer experience

Generally, it takes more than 10 years to become a president/chief executive officer. The most common roles before becoming a president/chief executive officer include vice president, president team lead and general manager.

Prepare your president/chief executive officer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your president/chief executive officer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a president/chief executive officer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable president/chief executive officer resume templates

Build a professional president/chief executive officer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your president/chief executive officer resume.

Apply for president/chief executive officer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a president/chief executive officer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

Average president/chief executive officer salary

The average president/chief executive officer salary in the United States is $240,732 per year or $116 per hour. President/chief executive officer salaries range between $134,000 and $429,000 per year.

Average president/chief executive officer salary

$240,732 Yearly

$115.74 hourly

How do president/chief executive officers rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

President/chief executive officer reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jun 2022

Pros

Independence in decision making

Cons

I am responsible for everything be it any side of the business

A zippia user wrote a review on Jun 2022

Pros

It provides me an opportunity to actively employ my passion for a leadership, while taking ideas from other people, above my position and developing leaders that work in my group. I have taught many classes in Customer Service, Communications Skills, Leadership and many others, for the State of NH, Federal Government and colleges and universities, including Entrepreneurship, for SNHU.

Cons

Being restricted to working with a smaller group, than might need Leadership training and coaching.

A zippia user wrote a review on Sep 2020

Pros

Working with teams, creating and sustaining service delivery systems, variety of tasks and projects, making it happen.

What is a president/chief executive officer and how to become one

President/chief executive officer career paths

Key steps to become a president/chief executive officer

Explore president/chief executive officer education requirements

Most common president/chief executive officer degrees

Start to develop specific president/chief executive officer skills

Research president/chief executive officer duties and responsibilities

Get president/chief executive officer experience

Prepare your president/chief executive officer resume

Choose from 10+ customizable president/chief executive officer resume templates

Apply for president/chief executive officer jobs

How did you land your first president/chief executive officer job

Average president/chief executive officer salary

How do president/chief executive officers rate their job?

President/chief executive officer reviews

President/chief executive officer jobs by state