Chairman of the Board vs Chief Executive Officer

Chairman and CEO
tarun mishra, Entrepreneur, India
It's completely upon the CEO to choose who he wants to work for. At the time of selection a CEO must ensure the culture of the board and the culture of the company. A CEO might choose to work for the chairman. If the CEO chooses to work for value generation, he would work for the company and ensure that the chairman is in line with the company's interest, if required.

Chairman and CEO
Mark Auer, Director, South Africa
My take on this is the chair is expected to reflect the view of the board in terms of actions and communication.
Of course if the chair is executive rather than non-executive then he can act in that capacity. It would not endear him to the rest of the board if he did not have their backing...

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Andrew Blaine, Business Consultant, South Africa
In my opinion, the Chairman of the Board and the Chief Executive Officer have different needs and responsibilities that can, at times, be at odds.
The Chairman of the Board is the chief representative of the business stakeholders and his function includes:
1. Determining the direction and general focus of the business;
2. Defining business policy and scope of action.
The Chief Executive Officer is responsible to the Board for:
1. Implementing the policy as defined by the Board;
2. Ensuring the health and welfare of the business.
Simplistically, The Chairman of the Board equates to the Captain of a ship, while the CEO is represented by the First Mate/Executive Officer (depending on the side of the Atlantic you inhabit)
Personally, I believe both posts should be filled by different people, unless the candidate is exceptional. As a team, they should be indomitable as they feed off each other. Both persons work for the Board, but the CEO also represents the staff employed.

Chairman and CEO
etim attah, Management Consultant, Nigeria
Who has the responsibility of hiring who? Is it possible for the CEO to hire a Chairman of a Board? Or statutorily the Board has the responsibility to hire the CEO?
I think that while the CEO supervises 'working' of the organisation, the Chairman does the same + appraises the savvy of the CEO in attaining the overall goals of the organisation.

Chair and CEO in a Business
Andrew Blaine, Business Consultant, South Africa
@Etim attah: Normally the Chair of the Board is elected by the Board. The Board is created by the founders of the business and, normally, members of the Board are re-elected on a regular basis. In most cases, Board members are shareholders in the business and, thus can be considered not to be employees of the business.
The CEO is appointed by the Board, reports to the Board, serves at the pleasure of the Board and is disciplined/dismissed by the Board.
From the viewpoint of responsibility, the Board determines the policy for company business, the Chair is responsible for the disseminating these policy decisions to the CEO and Management, and the CEO is responsible for implementing policy laid down by the Board.