Resume template · Updated October 2026
Executive resume template for senior leaders
Short answer
Henrietta suits an executive resume: its conventional black and grey business layout opens with a short executive profile, goes straight into experience and keeps skills low on the page, where they belong at this level. The fictional sample is a chief operating officer at a food manufacturer, with company-level results, a five-plant network, board roles and two decades of history across two pages.
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Catherine is a fictional chief operating officer. Replace every detail with your own before you send it.
The files are made in your browser by Resumity's own exporters, from this sample. The builder opens it as your own resume: click any line to replace it. Free plan, no watermark.
Why Henrietta suits an executive resume
Henrietta is the classic business layout, a conventional look that suits board members and search consultants, with a summary that works as the executive profile and experience directly after it. Education follows the jobs directly, ahead of skills, so the MBA is not left at the very end, and the unlabelled three-column skills grid stays compact, which is right when skills carry little weight in a C-suite search.
Second choice: Catalyst. Catalyst leaves out the summary and starts with the current role; choose it when your title and company say enough without an executive profile.
What goes in each section, in Henrietta's order
Henrietta prints its sections in a fixed order, the same in the PDF and the Word file. Here is that order for this sample, and what to put in each section.
- Professional Summary. An executive profile of three or four lines: the scale you run (revenue, people, sites), the situation you are brought in for (turnaround, growth, integration) and one or two company-level results. Cut any adjective a reader cannot check.
- Work Experience. Open each executive role with a scope line, then results a board would recognise: margin, EBITDA, working capital, safety rate, an acquisition integrated. Roles from more than fifteen years ago compress into one entry, so two pages hold the whole career.
- Education. Degrees and any executive education programs, with school names. Years are optional; the sample leaves them off both degrees.
- Skills. Henrietta lays skills out in a grid without labels, so keep it to areas of leadership (P&L ownership, M&A integration, lean operations) plus one or two systems at most. A short grid is fine.
- Board and industry roles. Board seats, trustee roles and industry associations print last under one heading. Give the organization, your role and the years, with one line on what you contribute.
The sample resume as text
The same content as the files above, so you can copy a line or compare it with your own.
Catherine Molloy
Chief Operating Officer, Food and Consumer Manufacturing
Minneapolis, MN | catherine.molloy@example.com | (612) 555-0187 | linkedin.com/in/sample-catherine-molloy
Operations executive with 22 years in food and consumer goods manufacturing, the last five as COO of a $480 million company with five plants and 1,900 employees. Brought in to stabilize margins after rapid growth: raised EBITDA margin from 8.1% to 12.4% and integrated two acquisitions. Reports to the CEO and presents operations results to the board each quarter.
Experience
Chief Operating Officer, Prairie Harvest Foods, Minneapolis, MN (02/2021 to Present)
- Run manufacturing, supply chain, quality and engineering: five plants, two distribution centers and 1,900 employees.
- Raised EBITDA margin from 8.1% to 12.4% over four years through a network consolidation and a lean program in every plant.
- Led the operational integration of two acquired snack brands, moving their production into existing plants within 14 months.
- Cut the recordable injury rate roughly in half with a plant-led safety program and monthly reviews with plant managers.
- Present the operations plan and capital requests to the board each quarter; secured approval for a $65 million automation program.
Vice President, Operations, Riverbend Packaging Co., Milwaukee, WI (03/2016 to 01/2021)
- Led operations for three plants with $210 million in revenue and 700 employees.
- Reduced conversion cost per unit by 11% over three years while volume grew by a quarter.
- Built a central planning team that cut finished goods inventory by $9 million.
- Negotiated new labor agreements at two plants without a work stoppage.
Plant General Manager, Riverbend Packaging Co., Green Bay, WI (01/2011 to 02/2016)
- Ran a 320-person plant producing folding cartons for food brands.
- Moved the plant from last to second in the network on on-time delivery over three years.
- Introduced daily tiered meetings and visual management on every line.
Process Engineer, then Production Manager, Northstar Cereal Company, Cedar Rapids, IA (06/2003 to 12/2010)
- Progressed from process engineer to production manager for two packaging lines and 90 employees.
Board and industry roles
- Independent director, Lakeway Community Credit Union, 2022 to Present: chair of the audit committee.
- Board member, Upper Midwest Food Processors Council (trade association), 2019 to Present: leads the workforce development committee.
Education
Master of Business Administration, Upper Midwest Graduate School of Business
Bachelor of Science, Industrial Engineering, Iowa Prairie University
Skills
P&L ownership, M&A integration, Lean manufacturing, Capital planning, SAP S/4HANA, Power BI, Board communication, Labor relations, Building leadership teams
How to make the sample yours
Size every role in its first bullet
Revenue, headcount, sites and budget. Giving the scale first lets a board member or search consultant compare it with their own company before reading any result.
Write results at company level
An executive bullet ends in a business number: margin, cash, growth, safety, retention. Departmental activity belongs on the resumes of the people who reported to you.
Condense the early career
The sample folds seven years of engineering and production roles into one entry with one line. Keep titles and employers so nothing looks hidden, and spend the space on the last decade.
Show board-level work
Presenting to the board, working with lenders or investors, leading a sale or acquisition process: one bullet in the current role shows you already operate at that level.
Senior professional without a C-suite title?
Twenty years in a senior role can use the same layout: a profile, a scope line per role and condensed early years. Drop the board section if it does not apply.
Keywords to keep where they are true
Terms this kind of resume is usually searched for. Use the posting's exact wording, and only for work you have done.
- P&L ownership
- EBITDA
- operational excellence
- lean manufacturing
- M&A integration
- supply chain strategy
- capital planning
- board reporting
- organizational transformation
- executive leadership
- safety culture
- cost reduction
- multi-site operations
Mistakes to avoid
- Listing responsibilities instead of results. "Responsible for operations" says nothing the title does not already say.
- A profile full of adjectives (visionary, dynamic, results-driven). Replace each with a number or a named situation.
- Giving a role from twenty years ago the same space as the current one. Old detail pushes recent results down the page.
- Naming confidential deal terms or figures you are not allowed to share. Round them or describe the size instead.
How the sample PDF reads in text extractors
We exported this sample with Resumity's PDF exporter in Chrome on 2026-10-29 and read the file back with three open-source text extractors. This shows whether software that turns a PDF into text can recover it; it is not a test of any commercial applicant tracking system. How we test templates.
| Extractor | Name, email, phone | Headings | Bullets intact |
|---|---|---|---|
| pdf.js 4.10.38 | All found | 5 of 5 | 13 of 13 |
| pdftotext (Xpdf) 4.00 | All found | 5 of 5 | 13 of 13 |
| pypdf 6.13.0 | All found | 5 of 5 | 13 of 13 |
Frequently asked questions
How long should an executive resume be?
Two pages for most executives. Three is hard to justify unless board work and publications need the space; either way, the first page should carry the profile and the current role on its own.
Should an executive resume have a summary?
Usually yes, as a short executive profile with scale and two company-level results. If your template prints no summary, move the scale into the headline.
How much of a 25-year career belongs on an executive resume?
Detail roughly the last decade or fifteen years. Earlier roles can be one combined entry with titles and employers, so the career is complete without taking space.
Should I include graduation years on an executive resume?
They are optional. Many senior candidates leave them off older degrees; the degree and the school are what a reader looks for.
Where do board roles go on an executive resume?
In a separate section near the end, with organization, role and years. A board role that matters for the target job can also be mentioned in the profile.
Is a C-suite resume different from a VP resume?
The structure is the same. A C-suite resume reports results at company level and shows work with the board, investors or owners; a VP resume usually stays within one or two functions.
Will applicant tracking systems read this Henrietta PDF?
The sample PDF read back with its contact details, all 5 section headings and all 13 bullets intact in three open-source text extractors (pdf.js, pdftotext and pypdf). Commercial systems such as Workday, Greenhouse or Taleo were not tested, and each employer configures its own.
Guides and templates for this resume
More in resume templates by experience level.