A board of directors is a set of people in an organization who oversees strategic planning and decision-making based on their vision, goals values, mission, and values. The board is responsible for balancing the interests of shareholders, maintaining integrity, and making plans for the future of the business.
A subset of an executive committee deals with urgent issues and serves as a steering mechanism for the board. It typically consists of the chairperson, vice-chairperson, secretary and treasurer. The chairperson is typically the chairman and CEO of the committee. the vice chairman assists the chairman and serves as their second in command when they are absent. The secretary keeps minutes, maintains the committee calendar and ensures that all members have access important documents.
By design an executive committee is usually a small group. They are more flexible and meet at short notice to take decision in an emergency. This allows the entire board to concentrate on more significant issues during their regular meetings.
An executive committee could also be able to handle many routine matters and stand in for the organization in situations where the entire board is not required to be present, for instance, normal financial or legal procedures. It can be used to test controversial ideas and to see how the organization responds to them before presenting it to the entire board. The committee should not function as a secondary power structure. It is crucial to have a clear delegation of responsibility and internal checks and checks and balances.