What is "chief operating officer"

n. (context business English) A corporate officer of a corporation, company, or agency, responsible for executing decisions of the chief executive officer (CEO) according to their decided schedule; often initialised as COO.

n. the corporate executive responsible for the operations of the firm; reports to a board of directors; may appoint other managers (including a president) [syn: chief executive officer, CEO]

A chief operating officer (COO), also called the chief operations officer, is a position that can be one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, comprising part of the " C-Suite". The COO is responsible for the daily operation of the company, and routinely reports to the highest ranking executive, usually the chief executive officer (CEO). The COO is usually the second in command at the firm, especially if the highest ranking executive is the Chairman and CEO.