Chairman versus President

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Please read:

a. The President of the Company.
b. The Chairman of the Company.
c. The President of the Parents Association.
d. The Chairman of the Parents Association.

Is there the difference btw “President”,and " Chairman"? Are they interchangeable in all 4 sentences?

Thanks

2

.The President of the Company.
The President of the Parents Association.
Both are OK.
I think chairman is not the right noun. Chairman is not a president but a person in charge of a meeting or the officer who presides at the meetings of an organization

That’s my two cents :smiley:

3

Hi Khahn

The chairman of a company is the leader of the company’s Board of Directors. Sometimes this person is also the president or CEO of the company, sometimes not. The words are not interchangeable here.

I doubt if there is much difference (if any) between president and chairman in connection with “the Parents Association”. I guess in this case it’s simply a question of which word the particular association likes better. I would expect either one to be the elected leader of the association.

Amy

4

Hi Amy,

How about your opinion with that case:

Sir Roland took it upon himself to act as Chairman.
Sir Roland took it upon himself to act as President.

Thanks
Khanh

5

Hi Khahn

Without knowing who Sir Roland might be, and without any idea of president / chairman of what, I’d say that in an organization where one can simply take it upon oneself to act as something, then it probably also doesn’t matter much which word you use. It will probably depend on what the organization (or maybe even Sir Roland ;)) likes to call things.

The most likely situation where someone might “take it upon himself to act in a particular role” would be the role of “chairman of a meeting”.

Amy