A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals''
) or general director is a senior
executive
Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to:
Role or title
* Executive, a senior management role in an organization
** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators
** Executive di ...
officer, often the
chief executive officer, within a
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...
al, statutory,
NGO,
third sector or
not-for-profit institution. The term is commonly used in many countries worldwide, but with various meanings.
Australia
In most
Australian states, the director-general is the most senior civil servant in any government department, reporting only to the democratically elected
minister representing that department. In Victoria and the
Australian Government, the equivalent position is the
secretary of the department.
The
Australian Defence Force Cadets has three Directors-General which are all
one-star rank
An officer of one-star rank is a senior commander in many of the armed services holding a rank described by the NATO code of OF-6. The term is also used by some armed forces which are not NATO members. Typically, one-star officers hold the rank ...
s:
*Director-General of the
Australian Navy Cadets
The Australian Navy Cadets (ANC) is a voluntary youth organisation owned and sponsored by the Royal Australian Navy. Together with the Australian Air Force Cadets and Australian Army Cadets, it forms the Australian Defence Force Cadets. It host ...
*Director-General of the
Australian Army Cadets
The Australian Army Cadets (AAC) is the youth military program and organisation of the Australian Army, tasked with supporting participants to contribute to society, fostering interest in defence force careers, and developing support for the ...
*Director-General of the
Australian Air Force Cadets
The Australian Air Force Cadets (AAFC), known as the ''Air Training Corps (AIRTC)'' until 2001, is a Federal Government funded youth organisation. The parent force of the AAFC is the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Along with the Australia ...
Canada
In
Canada, the title director general is used in the federal civil service, known as the
Public Service of Canada. A director general in the federal government is typically not the most senior civil servant in a department. Directors general typically report to a more senior civil servant, such as an assistant deputy minister or associate deputy minister. The title "director general" is not usually used within the civil services of the ten provincial governments, nor the three territorial governments; instead, these civil services usually use the title "executive director", or "director".
Deputy ministers are the highest level bureaucrat within the
Canadian civil service at the federal, provincial and territorial levels. Deputy ministers are not politicians but professional bureaucrats. Outside the federal, provincial and territorial civil services, some public sector agencies such as school boards in
Quebec use the title "director general".
European Union
In the
European Commission and the
Council of the European Union, each department (called a
directorate-general) is headed by a non-political director-general. This is roughly equivalent to a
British permanent secretary.
France
In
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, the similar word
président-directeur général (PDG) means the highest person in a company, who is at the same time
chairman (''président'') of the board of directors and
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
(''directeur général''). From 2001 the two charges may be disjointed. The ''directeur général délégué'' has a role similar to that of a chief operating officer.
French
ministries are divided into general directorates (''directions générales''), sometimes named central directorates (''directions centrales'') or simply directorates (''directions''), headed respectively by a ''directeur général'', a ''directeur central'', or a ''directeur''.
Ethiopia
Prior to the coup d’état of 1974 which overthrew the government of Emperor
Haile Selassie, the chief civil servant of a government ministry or independent state agency was known by the title of Director-General. In contemporary Ethiopia, the head official of independent agencies such as the
Information Network Security Agency or the
Ethiopian Investment Corporation
Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts o ...
is titled Director-General, as are second-tier divisions within ministries, below
ermanentsecretariats.
Germany
In
Germany, ''Generaldirektor'' may be used for the CEO of a large and established concern, corporation, company or enterprise, particularly if subordinates have the title
director. The title is, however, unofficial (theoretically any person, and even practically every entrepreneur with one employee, may call himself director-general) and by now largely out of use. Officially a
GmbH has a ''Geschäftsführer'' ("managing director"), an
Aktiengesellschaft, and a board of executive directors (Vorstand) with a chairman (Vorstandsvorsitzender).
The term is also used by
German Institute Taipei
The German Institute Taipei (German: Deutsches Institut Taipei); () is the overseas representative office of Germany in Taiwan, which promotes the non-diplomatic German-Taiwanese relations and looks after German interests there. Tasks of the ins ...
, Germany's informal representative mission to the
Republic of China (Taiwan), to refer to its
head of mission, as well as the suggested translation for senior executive positions (Abteilungsleiterin or Abteilungsleiter) in German ministries.
Hong Kong
Several positions in the
Hong Kong Government bear titled director-general, including the directors-general of
Investment Promotion, of
Trade Trade and Industry, of
Civil Aviation, and of the
Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, London.
India
In India, a Director General may refer to the Director General of the
Border Security Force or to the
Director General of Police, who is the highest ranking official in the
Central Armed Police Forces
Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) is the collective name of central police organisations in India under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). These are technically paramilitary forces formerly known as Central Para-Military Forces (CPMF). Sinc ...
, the
National Disaster Response Force, and the
Indian Coast Guard. In addition, the head of many government agencies are also referred to as Director Generals, like the Director General of
Archaeological Survey of India, the Director General of
Central Statistics Office, the Director General of the
National Informatics Centre (NIC), the Director General of
Indian Council of Medical Research, etc.
Italy
In
Italy, the ''direttore generale'' of a company is a
corporate officer
Corporate titles or business titles are given to corporate officers to show what duties and responsibilities they have in the organization. Such titles are used by publicly and privately held for-profit corporations, cooperatives, non-profit ...
who reports to the CEO (''amministratore delegato'') and has duties similar to a
chief operating officer.
Some Italian
ministries are divided into departments (''dipartimenti''), which are in turn divided into general directorates (''direzioni generali'') headed by a ''direttore generale''. Other ministries, which do not have departments, are directly divided into general directorates. In
Italian provinces and greatest
communes, ''direttore generale'' is a
chief administrative officer nominated by the president of province or by the mayor. The title of ''direttore generale'' is also given to the chief executive of an ''azienda sanitaria'', a local public agency for health services.
Philippines
The word Director-General was used in the Philippines as a highest ranking law enforcer, which means the head of a law enforcement agency. Such agencies are:
*
Philippine National Police
*
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency
*
Bureau of Corrections
Russia
A general director is the highest executive position in a
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
n company, analogous to a US chief executive officer (CEO), or a UK managing director. The position exists for all
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) legal forms (e.g.
joint stock companies (AO) and
limited-liability companies (OOO)), except for
sole proprietorship
A sole proprietorship, also known as a sole tradership, individual entrepreneurship or proprietorship, is a type of enterprise owned and run by one person and in which there is no legal distinction between the owner and the business entity. A sol ...
s (IP).
The general director is the "single-person executive body" of a company. He or she acts without
power of attorney to represent the company, and issues powers of attorney to others. His or her powers are defined by the company charter, by decision of the general meeting of
shareholders (AO) or participants (OOO), and by the board of directors.
Spain
In
Spain,
México, and other Spanish-speaking countries, the term "director general" of a company (similar to a US corporation) is either the general manager or CEO of the company.
South Africa
In South Africa, the term refers to the non-political head of the
national government and its departments.
Provincial governments also have directors-general and they hold similar roles to their national counterparts.
Sweden
In
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...
, the cognate word Generaldirektör (GD) is the generic title for the head of a
State agency
A government or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an administratio ...
, unless otherwise prescribed by higher authority. For purposes of English translations, the word Director-General is officially used.
United Kingdom
In the
UK's Civil Service, a director-general is now usually a senior civil servant (SCS) at Pay Band 3 Level who heads up a group of other Directors and reports directly to the Permanent Secretary of a department.
For historical reasons, it has also been retained as the professional title of the chief executive officers in some organisations which predate the current SCS structure and therefore may be used by those people despite them working at different pay bands. For example, the head of the
UK's internal Security Service
MI5 is also called Director-General, despite the fact that the post is at
Permanent Secretary (Pay Band 4) level. (See
Civil Service (United Kingdom)#Grading schemes for details.)
The chief executive of the
British Broadcasting Corporation also uses the title despite there being no link to the civil service grading structure. The head of the
National Trust also holds the title.
United States
This term is used in
international organisation
An international organization or international organisation (see spelling differences), also known as an intergovernmental organization or an international institution, is a stable set of norms and rules meant to govern the behavior of states an ...
s and government departments, although this sort of position is more commonly called an "executive director" or "managing director" in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
.
Typically, the chief administrative officer of an
opera company in the US holds the title of "General Director". Such was the case with singer and conductor
Plácido Domingo, who formerly functioned in that capacity for the
Los Angeles Opera, as he had previously for the
Washington National Opera. In another prominent example,
Speight Jenkins served as the general director of the
Seattle Opera for over three decades. General directors are often responsible for artistic decisions, such as which operas to perform and which singers to hire, in addition to financial matters. The
Metropolitan Opera is one of the few exceptions among US opera houses; the head of its administration is known as a "
general manager" rather than a general director.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Director-General
.
Corporate governance
Management occupations
Positions of authority
Titles