Atkins for your attic

[Dave Wilton]

Quoting Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>:

> At 11:53 AM -0700 8/7/04, Ron Southerland wrote:
> >--On 2004  August 7  14:36 -0400 "James A. Landau" <JJJRLandau at AOL.COM>
> >wrote:
> >
> ><...>
> >
> >| "CXO" which appeared in several articles in the July 26, 2004,
> >| Computerworld.  In a signed article on the "OPINION" page, "Educate Your
> >| CXOs" by Maryfran Johnson, the following appeared:
> >|
> >| "...the role that all successful CIOs master---that of business
> >| communicator, educator and guide for the so-called CXOs (that senior
> >| business lineup of CEOs, CFO, COOs, CMOs and so forth)..."
> >|
> >| "CIO" is "Chief Information Officer"
> >| "CEO" is well-known
> >| "CFO" is "Chief Financial Officer" and I don't know why that title is
> only
> >| one in the list that is not plural
> >| "COO" is "Chief Operating Officer"
> >| I don't know what a CMO is.
> >|
> >| "CXO" also appeared, without definition, in an article on pages 31-32.
> >
> ><...>
> >
> >Looks like (from a peek at www.acronymfinder.com) CXO is 'chief executive
> >officer'
>
> But isn't CEO precisely 'chief executive officer'?   I guess 'chief
> xerox officer' wouldn't be quite high enough in the hierarchy for
> "CXO".  The variable analysis strikes me as the most plausible.
>
> >and thus a hypernym for all the others in the list. CMO (from the
> >same site) would appear to be 'chief marketing officer'. Who knew?
> >
> >--
> >Ron Southerland
> >Gabriola Island
>
>

It appears that "CxO", often written with a lower case x, is simply a
designation for all the all the various forms. You replace the x with the
appropriate letter for the position.

Googling also turns up "C-level executives."


--
Dave Wilton
dave at wilton.net
http://www.wilton.net/dave.htm