Principal Executive Officer (PEO)
Principal Executive Officer is the SEC's term for the CEO in pay-versus-performance disclosure — used because the disclosure follows the role, not the title.
Why not just 'CEO'
Item 402(v) requires the PEO's pay to be disclosed separately from other executives. The SEC uses 'principal executive officer' because the disclosure attaches to whoever held the chief-executive role during the fiscal year — including transition years with two PEOs, each reported per person.
On this site, PEO pay for a transition year is attributed per person whenever the filer tags it so (the iXBRL ecd:IndividualAxis), and shown as unattributed when the filing doesn't say whose pay it is.
Frequently asked
Can there be two PEOs in one year?
Yes — a CEO transition year often reports both the outgoing and incoming chief executive, each with their own pay row. Some filers also tag a $0 row for a named PEO who did not serve that year.
Related terms
Next term: Named Executive Officer (NEO) (3 of 15)