CEO Resume Example

A CEO resume answers one question for a board or a search committee: what happened to the whole company while you were in charge? Revenue, profit, valuation and the team are the evidence, stated at company level and over the full tenure.

The Sample resume below is for a chief executive in her fifth year running a $95 million water technology company backed by private equity, after an earlier role as president of a medical supply business. Her bullets are written the way a board reviews a leader: growth and margin over the whole period, the capital raised or returned, the strategic decisions (an acquisition, a divestiture, a new market) and the leadership team she built. There is one line about the board itself, because working with directors is part of the job.

A first-time CEO candidate should show the moments that most resemble the top job: full profit-and-loss ownership, board presentations and hard calls made with incomplete information. The executive example covers the division and function leaders who report to a chief executive, and the Business and management hub has the rest of the leadership roles.

Updated . The person and employers in this Sample resume are fictional.

CEO sample resume

Helena Marchetti

Chief Executive Officer, Industrial and Healthcare Products

Columbus, OHhelena.marchetti@example.com(614) 555-0133

Summary

Chief executive with five years in the role and nine years of full profit-and-loss leadership in industrial and healthcare products businesses. Grew a private-equity-backed water technology company from $52 million to $95 million in revenue while doubling EBITDA. Builds leadership teams that outlast her, communicates plainly with boards and investors, and is at her best in companies ready for their next stage of growth.

Experience

President and Chief Executive Officer, Verdant Loop Water Systems

– Present

Columbus, OH

  • Grew revenue from $52 million to $95 million and EBITDA from $7 million to $15 million over five years, ahead of the investment plan.
  • Acquired and integrated a filtration software company for $18 million, adding recurring revenue that is now a fifth of the total.
  • Sold a low-margin contract manufacturing unit, freeing management time and $9 million for reinvestment in the core business.
  • Rebuilt the executive team, hiring a CFO, a chief commercial officer and a head of engineering; employee engagement scores rose each year.
  • Report monthly to a seven-member board and led the refinancing that lowered interest cost ahead of a planned sale process.
President, Thornfield Medical Supply

–

Indianapolis, IN

  • Led a $140 million distribution business with 380 employees, reporting to the parent company's chief executive.
  • Returned the business to profit within eighteen months by exiting two unprofitable product lines and renegotiating freight.
  • Opened a direct-to-clinic channel that grew to $22 million in annual revenue by 2020.

Education

M.B.A.

Sauk Prairie State University, Sauk City, WI

B.S. in Chemical Engineering

Sauk Prairie State University, Sauk City, WI

Skills

  • Enterprise strategy
  • Full profit-and-loss leadership
  • Board governance
  • Private equity partnership
  • Mergers, acquisitions and divestitures
  • Capital structure and financing
  • Executive hiring
  • Investor communication
  • Operational turnaround
  • Company culture

Start yours from this example

Bring your own resume or start blank, then tailor it to each posting in about two minutes.

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Templates for the ceo resume

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How the resume changes with experience

The same ceo resume, written at three levels: a summary and three bullets for each.

Entry level

Zero to two years, or a first role in the title

First-time chief executive candidate, currently a division president with full profit-and-loss responsibility and regular board exposure.

  • Run a $60 million division with its own sales, operations and finance teams.
  • Present the division's plan and results to the parent company's board twice a year.
  • Turned around a declining product line into the division's fastest-growing segment.

Mid level

Three to seven years, owns a process or a workload

Chief executive with four years in the role, leading a mid-size company through growth with the backing of its investors.

  • Grew revenue and profit every year of tenure under a private equity owner.
  • Built the leadership team, replacing half of the executives inherited at the start.
  • Led the company's first acquisition and its integration.

Senior

Eight years or more, leads people, budgets or programs

Two-time chief executive with fifteen years at the top level, including a public company and two successful exits for investors.

  • Led a company through an initial public offering and three years as a listed company.
  • Delivered two sales to strategic buyers at valuations well above the entry price.
  • Serve as an independent director on two company boards.

Skills to put on the ceo resume

Hard skills

Company-wide results
Boards judge a chief executive on revenue, profit and value over the whole tenure, not on one project.
Capital allocation and financing
Deciding where money goes, and raising it when needed, is a core CEO responsibility boards test in interviews.
Mergers, acquisitions and divestitures
Buying and selling businesses changes a company quickly, and a clear record with deals is valued.
Board and investor relations
A chief executive works for a board, and directors want someone who reports clearly and without surprises.
Executive hiring
The team a CEO builds determines results long after a single strategy decision.

Soft skills

Decision-making with incomplete information
The hardest calls land on the chief executive, and search committees ask for examples.
Communication at every level
The same leader must speak to directors, employees, customers and lenders, often in the same week.
Setting culture
Employees take their cues from the top, and boards look for leaders whose teams stay and grow.

Mistakes that cost ceo interviews

  1. Listing functions instead of company results

    Oversaw sales, marketing and operations describes an org chart. Show what happened to revenue, profit and value while you led the whole company.

  2. Leaving out ownership context

    Say whether the company was founder-owned, private equity-backed or public. The owner type shapes the job, and boards match on it.

  3. Taking credit alone

    Directors know results come from a team. Mention the leaders you hired and developed; it makes your own results more believable.

  4. Ignoring the exit or the investment plan

    If investors had a plan, say how you performed against it. A sale, a refinancing or an exceeded plan is the headline a board wants.

Questions about the ceo resume

What should a CEO resume include?

The scale of each company you led, results across your full tenure, major strategic moves, capital events, the team you built and your board experience.

How is a CEO resume different from other executive resumes?

Everything is stated at company level, and it covers the board, investors and outside stakeholders. A division leader's resume covers one part of a company and the leader it reports to.

How long should a CEO resume be?

Two pages. A short board-ready biography is often requested as well, so keep a one-paragraph version ready.

Should a founder list the company they started?

Yes, with the stage it reached, funding raised, revenue and the outcome, including a sale or a closure. Search committees respect honest accounts of both.

Do CEOs work with recruiters?

Most chief executive searches go through executive search firms, so write the resume for a search partner who will pitch you to a board in a few sentences.

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