Resume template · Updated October 2026
Chief executive officer resume template
Short answer
Leslie works for a chief executive officer: one restrained blue accent, a summary at the top and experience printed before skills, so the company you run and what changed under you come first. The fictional sample is the CEO of a 420-person software company serving utilities, who grew recurring revenue, raised a growth round and bought two competitors, after running a division of a larger firm through its sale.
Download the chief executive officer sample
Laura is a fictional chief executive 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 Leslie suits a chief executive officer resume
Leslie centres the name and contact line in blue and adds only short blue underlines under each heading, a single quiet accent that suits a document a board chair or search partner will forward. It prints the summary and then work experience ahead of skills, so the company you lead and its numbers follow the opening paragraph directly, before any list of competencies.
Second choice: Catalyst. Catalyst drops the summary and opens on the current role, a strong fit for a sitting CEO whose company name already tells the story.
What goes in each section, in Leslie's order
Leslie 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. Three lines: company type, scale and ownership, the arc of your tenure (growth, turnaround, sale, preparation for a listing) and the board you answer to. A search firm uses this paragraph to decide which brief you belong on.
- Work Experience. Lead each chief executive or president role with where the company stood when you arrived and where it stands now: revenue, profit, valuation or exit, customers, headcount. Then the decisions behind the change, each with its result: a pricing shift, a raise, an acquisition, a rebuilt leadership team.
- Skills. Labelled rows with a dot after each label. Six or so strategic capabilities and two interpersonal strengths are plenty; for a CEO this section is a checklist for the search committee, not a place for software.
- Education. Degrees with years. Keep a technical first degree visible if you run a technical company; customers and engineers notice it.
- Board service. Board service shows governance experience from the other side of the table. List independent directorships first, then nonprofit and association boards, each with the year it began.
The sample resume as text
The same content as the files above, so you can copy a line or compare it with your own.
Laura Kessington
Chief Executive Officer, B2B Software for Utilities
Denver, CO | laura.kessington@example.com | (303) 555-0157 | linkedin.com/in/sample-laura-kessington
Chief executive of a venture-backed software company that sells field service and asset management tools to about 300 utilities and water districts. Grew annual recurring revenue from $34M to $88M in five years, reached positive EBITDA and completed two acquisitions. Reports to a five-member board; earlier ran a $70M division through its sale.
Experience
Chief Executive Officer, Front Range Field Software, Denver, CO (03/2019 to Present)
- Lead a 420-person company with offices in Denver and Toronto, reporting to a board with two investor seats and two independent directors.
- Grew annual recurring revenue from $34M to $88M and reached positive EBITDA in the third year.
- Raised a $60M growth round and used part of it to buy two smaller competitors, whose products now run on one platform.
- Moved the business from perpetual licences to subscriptions, which now make up 85% of revenue.
- Rebuilt the executive team with a new CFO, chief product officer and head of customer success; voluntary staff turnover fell from 19% to 11%.
President, Utilities Division, Granite Basin Systems, Salt Lake City, UT (07/2013 to 02/2019)
- Ran a $70M division with full P&L responsibility and 260 staff selling in North America and Australia.
- Returned the division to profit within two years by retiring two loss-making products and repricing maintenance contracts.
- Led the carve-out of the division and its sale to a strategic buyer in 2018.
Board service
- Independent director, a regional credit union, since 2021
- Board member, a state technology industry association, since 2020
Education
MBA, Wasatch Graduate School of Business (05/2009)
BS, Electrical Engineering, Colorado Plains University (05/2001)
Skills
Strategy and capital allocation, Board and investor relations, M&A and integration, Subscription business models, Pricing, Executive hiring, Public speaking, Customer executive relationships
How to make the sample yours
Write each tenure as a before and after
State where the company was when you took over and where it was when you left, or is today. A figure the reader cannot compare to anything is a claim, not a result.
Fit the ownership model
Venture boards look for growth and fundraising; private equity sponsors for EBITDA, cash and an exit; family owners for continuity; public boards for guidance met and shareholder return. Reorder your bullets to match the seat.
Say what you inherited
A turnaround reads differently from a scale-up. One clause on the starting conditions (losses, a founder transition, a failed product) frames everything after it.
Keep investors and acquirers anonymous where needed
Name them only if the deal was announced publicly; otherwise describe them by type, such as "a strategic buyer" or "a growth equity firm".
Trim the early career
Search partners concentrate on the last fifteen years. Earlier roles can shrink to one line each or drop off.
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.
- chief executive officer
- CEO
- P&L ownership
- strategic planning
- capital raising
- board of directors
- investor relations
- mergers and acquisitions
- revenue growth
- EBITDA
- executive team building
- organizational culture
- business transformation
- exit strategy
Mistakes to avoid
- Opening with a leadership philosophy instead of the company you run and its numbers.
- Writing as if you did it alone; "led", "built" and "hired" are accurate and still strong.
- Naming undisclosed investors, acquirers or valuations.
- Three or more pages listing every role since graduation.
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 | 8 of 8 |
| pdftotext (Xpdf) 4.00 | All found | 5 of 5 | 8 of 8 |
| pypdf 6.13.0 | All found | 5 of 5 | 8 of 8 |
Frequently asked questions
What should the first lines of a CEO resume say?
Company type, size, ownership and the change you led, in plain numbers. A search committee should know within a few lines whether you have run a company like theirs.
How do I write about a company that was sold or failed?
Say what happened plainly: "led the sale to a strategic buyer in 2023" or "wound down operations and returned remaining capital to investors". A clear account reads better than a gap or a vague exit line.
Can a first-time CEO candidate use this template?
Yes. Lead the summary with the general management you already have (a division P&L, a president title, years as COO) and make sure the most CEO-like role sits at the top of the experience section.
Do I also need a board bio?
Often, for board seats and some search firms: a short third-person paragraph. Keep the resume for hiring processes and the bio for board packs and websites.
How long should a chief executive resume be?
Two pages. Page one carries the summary and current role; page two holds earlier roles, education and board service.
Will applicant tracking systems read this Leslie PDF?
The sample PDF read back with its contact details, all 5 section headings and all 8 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.
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