Managing Director (MD) vs. Executive Director (ED)

This may be a dumb question but please excuse my ignorance. What is the difference between an Executive Director and Managing Director?

Difference between Executive Director and Managing Director

In the United States an Executive Director is most commonly equivalent to a Senior Vice President. Therefore it is the step before reaching Managing Director.

In Europe an Executive Director is the equivalent of a Senior Managing Director.

This point is well explained by user @fedor, a private equity associate:

fedor - Private Equity Associate:
ED is the same thing as a Senior MD, which puts him right below Group Heads. I'd say he can get you an interview or even a super day if he wants to but I don't think he could get you an offer. Maybe at a smaller firm, it would be possible, but not a large bank.

However, each bank has its own structure so you need to research each individual rank to determine where their position falls on the hierarchy.

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There is a difference between Executive Director and Executive Managing Director. Executive Director is the same thing as a Senior Vice President and it is the position before reaching Managing Director.

GS has Executive Managing Directors and they are Managing Directors but they are not Partner Managing Directors.

EMDs at Goldman take home between $1.5 and $3 million a year. Goldman PMDs take in over $7 million per year

 
JambaMan:

There is a difference between Executive Director and Executive Managing Director. Executive Director is the same thing as a Senior Vice President and it is the position before reaching Managing Director.

GS has Executive Managing Directors and they are Managing Directors but they are not Partner Managing Directors.

EMDs at Goldman take home between $1.5 and $3 million a year. Goldman PMDs take in over $7 million per year

what about these numbers now post lehman?

I don't throw darts at a board. I bet on sure things. Read Sun-tzu, The Art of War. Every battle is won before it is ever fought- GG
 
Best Response

fedor is an idiot. ED is above a VP, but below an MD. to refresh:

analyst -> associate -> VP -> ED/SVP -> MD

as with most answers, it all depends. however, whereas an analyst's / associate's BAD opinion can keep you out (i.e. - "thought the guy was a douche. we shouldn't bring him in."), their opinions don't have as much pull when trying to bring guys in. although the negative review of an ED/MD can definitely keep one out, their positive review on a potential candidate has a lot more pull. so to answer your question, as long you haven't pissed anyone else below / above the ED, and he likes you and is WILLING TO GO TO BAT for you, you should have a good shot.

good luck.

 

No need to call me an idiot before you do some research buddy:

http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/md-vs-executive-director

If you are on the US system, an ED is (as you correctly noted) right below an MD and is technically an equivalent of SVP. "ED" however, is not a very common term for an SVP in the US, therefore I assumed he was talking about the "English" system, where the ranks are Analyst -> Associate -> Senior Associate -> VP -> Associate Director -> Division Director -> Executive Director, i.e. DD = MD and ED = Senior MD. Lots of non-US banks are on this system so I don't think it's too unreasonable to assume that's what the OP was talking about.

 
fedor:

If you are on the US system, an ED is (as you correctly noted) right below an MD and is technically an equivalent of SVP. "ED" however, is not a very common term for an SVP in the US, therefore I assumed he was talking about the "English" system, where the ranks are Analyst -> Associate -> Senior Associate -> VP -> Associate Director -> Division Director -> Executive Director, i.e. DD = MD and ED = Senior MD. Lots of non-US banks are on this system so I don't think it's too unreasonable to assume that's what the OP was talking about.

That's odd. I know JPM, MS and C have ED as a part of their ranks.

------------ I'm making it up as I go along.
 

Edit: Agree with above poster. "Analyst" could mean research, too. The issue here though is that there's less of a research focus in credit than equity and more of a component to pricing odd features of bonds or correlation products. A lot of it is a numbers game revolving around risk and yield, and credit research typically splits a lot of the attention from the traders with the chief economist's office making predictions about treasury action.

The desk analyst and credit titles says pretty clearly that he sits with the corporate bond or CDS traders. And Executive Director says he's probably not a 22-year-old kid. Analyst could mean research or it could mean quant analytics. If it were equity, I'd lean towards research; being credit, I'm kinda leaning a little more towards it meaning he's a quant. Really, it could be either one.

 

Depends where you are. If youre talking at a BB in IBD, easily 200 and 80-100%

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Usually ED's are a step below an MD and can be depending on the firm either above or equal to an SVP. ED's can have a fair amount of pull, however I've noticed that there are two distinct groups: he first are those who are still on the !D track and are rising stats, the others make enough money and bring in enough business that they are worth keeping, but not enough to make it to MD.

 

EDs are junior to MDs. It is not unusual for an ED to be "Head of [insert non-core industry here] Investment Banking", but that's typically merely an indication that there isn't much coverage of that particular industry at the bank and thus there is no MD who covers it. Such roles do not mean they are "group / division heads", just that they are the most senior banker for a particular industry. For example, the Industrials group at JPM covers a wide variety of sub-sectors; if they didn't perform many deals in Capital Goods (making this up), it wouldn't be strange to see an ED with the title "Head of Capital Goods Investment Banking". That ED, however, would not be "group head of Industrials".

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An ED is a good person to reach out to for a connection and entry point into the firm. They're senior enough to have some power, but not too senior that they'd ignore you completely. I've had a lot of success speaking with ED's and getting them to put in a good word for me through HR. Also, given their relative seniority, they can probably provide a broad perspective of the firm you're looking into, which is an advantage over talking to, say, and analyst.

 

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