Chief operating officer
[4] Richard D. Parsons was number two in the company hierarchy during his tenure as president of Time Warner from 1995 to 2001, but he had no authority over the operating divisions, and instead took on assignments at the behest of chairman and CEO Gerald Levin.
[8][9] In 2007, the investment banking firms of Bear Stearns and Morgan Stanley each had two presidents (Warren Spector and Alan Schwartz at Bear, Robert Scully and Zoe Cruz at Morgan) reporting to one CEO (who was also chairman of the board); each president was essentially a co-COO (despite the lack of title) overseeing half of the firm's business divisions.
Tom Anselmi of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment was chief operating officer from 2004 until September 6, 2013.
[10] Richard Fuld, the chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers, had a succession of "number twos" under him, usually titled as president and chief operating officer.
Pettit lost a power struggle with his deputies (Steve Lessing, Tom Tucker, and Joseph M. Gregory) on March 15 that year that caused him to relinquish its COO title, likely brought about after the three men found about Pettit's extramarital affairs, which violated Fuld's unwritten rules on marriage and social etiquette.
While Fuld was considered the "face" of Lehman brothers, Gregory was in charge of day-to-day operations and he influenced culture to drive the bottom line.
[14][15] LaSorda's titles as vice chairman and president officially stated that he was in charge of manufacturing, procurement and supply, employee relations, global business development and alliances.
However, LaSorda's actual role was to find a new partner or buyer for Chrysler, leading to speculation that Cerberus Capital was less interested in rebuilding the auto manufacturer than it was to turning profit though a leveraged buyout.
From June 5 until September 30, 2017, Rocco "Roy" Gori served as president where he oversaw Manulife's global operating businesses, with his subordinates being the general managers of the Canadian, U.S., and Asia Divisions, and the chief investment officer.
Linda Mantia, the chief operating officer, reported to the president on corporate strategy while continuing to report to the CEO on all other matters including corporate development, Analytics, Technology, Marketing, Innovation, human resources, regulatory and public affairs, global resourcing and procurement, and the global program office.
Others may have two COOs, each assigned to oversee several business lines or divisions, such as Lehman Brothers from 2002 to 2004 when Bradley Jack and Joseph M. Gregory were the co-COOs.
The COO is responsible for ensuring that business operations are efficient and effective and that the proper management of resources, distribution of goods and services to customers and analysis of queue systems is conducted.
"[27] COOs transitioning into the CEO role often face similar challenges including: According to researchers Miles and Bennett, just knowing these common pitfalls can help a COO "heir" better prepare for the transition, thereby avoiding them in totality or ensuring that at least they do not evolve into full derailers once they are in the CEO seat.
When a relationship built upon trust is created between the CEO and COO, firm performance is improved and shareholder results are strengthened.
Many executives with the leadership skills necessary to be a top-level COO would prefer to be running their own organization as opposed to taking orders from a CEO.
For COOs who are expecting to serve their time and be promoted to the top spot, their timelines for such a move can often be out of sync with the CEO's, causing a breakdown in the relationship.
COOs can also find themselves trapped into being labeled an "operations" person or a "number two" as opposed to being seen as a strategic and top-level leader by the board of directors, which causes some executives to steer clear of the position.
