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.

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chairperson British  

/ ˈtʃɛəˌpɜːsən /

noun

1. another word for chairman

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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

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Etymology

Origin of chairperson

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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

chairperson chairpersons

He was still chairperson of Mercury General, which is publicly traded and operates in 11 states.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026

Alannah Agnew - Cookstown, a passionate member and chairperson of her school eco team.

From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026

Mundubile, 55, who entered the race in May, secured nearly 38 percent of the vote, Electoral Commission of Zambia chairperson Mwangala Zaloumis said.

From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026

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

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

The session also swore in 14 congress vice chairpersons.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 9, 2023

“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

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