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

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

But John Mussington, the chairperson of Barbuda Council, the local authority, argues that this "community" was only made possible by flouting the 2007 Land Act.

From BBC ● May 20, 2026

But he quit the institution last year amid a bitter governance dispute with its chairperson.

From Barron's ● Apr. 10, 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

Warner, the more eager of the two chairpersons of jurisdiction who described this as a “top priority,” said he would be open to another Senate hearing if that’s what it takes.

From Slate ● Mar. 21, 2024

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

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