chairperson

American  

[chair-pur-suhn] / ˈtʃɛərˌpɜr sən /

noun

• chairpersons
  plural

1. a person who presides over a meeting, committee, board, etc.

2. the administrative head of a department in a high school, college, or university.

---

chairperson British  

/ ˈtʃɛəˌpɜːsən /

noun

1. another word for chairman

---

Gender

Chairperson has, since the 1960s, come to be used widely as an alternative to either chairman or chairwoman. This change was motivated largely by a desire to avoid chairman, which was felt to be inappropriate and even sexually discriminatory when applied to a woman. Chairperson is standard in all varieties of speech and writing. Despite such widespread acceptance, some organizations and publications do not use chairperson at all, usually on the grounds that it is awkward and that chairman is a well-established generic term. Many style guides advocate use of the term chair to designate the presiding officer, thus avoiding charges of both sexism and awkwardness: Jim will be chair of the entertainment committee this year, and Jane will be chair next year. See also -man, -person, -woman.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• chairpersonship
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• chairpersons
  plural

Etymology

Origin of chairperson

First recorded in 1970–75; chair(man) + -person

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

chairperson chairpersons

Sean Liddick, professor of chemistry at FRIB, interim chairperson of MSU's Department of Chemistry, and Ronning's graduate advisor, said the study depended on experimental resources available only at FRIB.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 31, 2026

Ortega’s daughter, Marta Ortega Perez, is the retailer’s chairperson.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 3, 2026

Stuart Bonar, chairperson of the Liberal Democrats in Plymouth, said there was pressure on housing markets for people buying or renting.

From BBC ● Apr. 27, 2026

“We have never felt this threatened before and it is by our ally,” said Pipaluk Lynge, chairperson of the Greenlandic Parliament’s foreign and security policy committee.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 11, 2026

In 1893, Ida Wells-Barnett launched the first black women’s club in Chicago, recruiting an aging Mary Richardson Jones to join as honorary chairperson.

From "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" by Claire Hartfield

In 2024, the chairpersons of 17 parent councils in Aberdeenshire wrote to the Scottish government asking for urgent action to tackle the teacher shortages in the north east.

From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026

Bradford’s proposal would allow targeted lawmakers to participate, with a lawyer, in the inquiry that would be done by the speaker, minority and majority leaders, and minority and majority caucus chairpersons.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 18, 2024

“We have Betsy brigades in every county, and we will have chairpersons in those counties responsible for explaining the intricacies of signature gathering,” Johnson said.

From Washington Times ● Jun. 4, 2022

"As a family member who has been closely involved with the business over the last few years, Marta Ortega will be significantly more involved than most non-executive chairpersons would be," Deutsche Bank's Adam Courcharne said.

From Reuters ● Apr. 1, 2022

From this point on, representatives of the Community found themselves increasingly asked to function as convenors or chairpersons of a wide range of bodies: committees, task forces, working groups and advisory boards.

From Century of Light by Baha'i International Community