Director-General

The term director-general (plural directors-general, as "general" is postpositive) is a title given the highest executive officer within a governmental, statutory, NGO, third sector or not-for-profit institution. In the European Commission, each department (called a directorate-general) is headed by a non-political director-general. This is roughly equivalent to a British permanent secretary. In most Australian states, the director-general is the most senior civil servant in any government department, reporting only to the democratically-elected minister representing that department. In Victoria and the Australian Government, the equivalent position is the secretary of the department. In Canada, a director general is not the highest...