Vice President

A vice president is an officer in government or business who is next in rank
below a president in a presidential system of government.

The name comes from the Latin vice meaning in place of.

Vice Presidents in Government

In politics, Vice Presidents are sometimes elected jointly with the
president as his or her running mate, elected separately, or appointed
independently after the president's election.

Governments with vice presidents generally have only one person holding this
role and generally if the president is not present, dies, resigns, or is
otherwise unable to fulfill his job, the vice president will serve as a
president. In many presidential systems, the vice president does not wield
much day to day political power, but is still considered an important member
of the cabinet. Many nations with congressional systems also give the Vice
President the symbolic position of President of the Senate.

The vice president can sometimes assume some of the symbolic and less
important functions of president, such as some ceremonial functions and
events that the actual president may be too busy to attend; the Vice
President of the United States, for example often attends funerals of world
leaders on behalf of the president.

In parliamentary systems, most states do not have a vice president but
instead name another office-holder, often the chairperson or president of
the upper house of parliament, to act as effective vice president. In the
Republic of Ireland, a collective vice presidency exists called the
Presidential Commission, made up of the Ceann Comhairle (chairperson of D‡il
ƒireann (House of Representatives)), Cathaoirleach (chairperson of Seanad
ƒireann (Senate)) and the Irish Chief Justice.

Corporate Vice Presidents

In business, vice-president refers to a rank in senior or middle management.
Most companies who use this title generally have large numbers of persons
with the title of vice president with different types of vice president
(i.e. vice president for finance).

A corporate vice-president is rarely "second in line" to succeed the
corporate president following death or resignation. Such decisions are
usually left up to the board of directors.