A Managing Director. Are they the owner or the person who runs a company?

Question

A Managing Director. Are they the owner or the person who runs a company?

Answer 1

There are 3 groups that are in charge in large corporations:

Managers - work for the corporation and tell the employees waht to do based on the plans and direction set by the Directors.

Directors - not necesseraly owners, but can be - maybe owners of other corporations, heads of interests groups, etc.

They set the DIRECTION of the company as a whole, set goals for Managers.

Stockholders - These are the true owners of the corporation.  They usually pick who the directors will be.

So to answer your question, a managing director is a director that also works for the corporation as a manager.  But can also be the Director in charge or with more power than the rest of the directors.

Answer 2

Not necessarily exclusive - a business owner can act as operating manager, but an operating manager is not necessarily the owner, but  was hired by the business to perform that function.