The Rise of the Inflated C-Suite

Once upon a time, companies got by with a tight C-Suite (CEO, CFO, CTO and CSO/CISO), maybe a CIO and COO in larger enterprises or the more adventurous. Fast forward to 2025 and the executive floor resembles a royal court, where C- titles are minted faster than NFTs (non-fungible tokens). The latest entry in this alphabet soup, the Chief Trust Officer (CTrO).

At first glance, it sounds noble, who would not want trust at the helm? For those who know me I am the first to champion ‘Trust in Digital Life‘ (written in 2011). Trust though is like respect, its earned not virtue signaled. The worrying trend is that once you scratch the surface, you find just another rebrand of Chief Security Officer or Chief Technology Officer with a shinier LinkedIn headline.

This promotion by thesaurus is reminiscent of the HR-to-Chief People Officer makeover, same job, more empathy in the title. Champions of C-Level bloat call it akin, when in reality it is hardly disguised spin. Another is the Chief Diversity Officer. Like the CTrO, the role often carries more symbolic weight than structural authority outside of HR. Diversity is important, of course, but the CDO too often becomes a human press release, delivering glossy reports, themed awareness weeks and LinkedIn worthy soundbites, while the harder questions of pay equity and systemic bias politely wait outside the boardroom. The list could go on, the Chief Commercial Officer. Once upon a time, this remit would have sat neatly under the CFO, who managed the financial strategy, pricing and revenue levers with ruthless efficiency. Lest I forget the Chief Marketing Officer and their cousin, the Chief Communications Officer. Once modest divisions reporting to the CEO or CFO, they now spawn entire executive fiefdoms, elevated to full-blown thrones in the executive court.

It is as if the corporate world decided that lungs and a heart needed their own CEOs to keep oxygen moving, no better illuminated than by the great schism of Sales and Marketing. Once two sides of the same coin, they now often sport separate C-level monarchs, the Chief Revenue Officer (sales with a shinier badge) and the Chief Marketing Officer (the high priest of  brand storytelling). In theory, one drives revenue while the other drives awareness. In practice, they spend half their time squabbling over who owns the customer and gets credit when a deal closes. The result? Twice the PowerPoints, twice the jargon and a permanent turf war.

The CTrO joins an already crowded stage which in addition to the two examples above includes  Chief Purpose Officers and even the mythical Chief Metaverse Officer (currently lost in their actual metaverse). Each role is justified as a strategic necessity, but collectively they risk turning the C-suite into the business equivalent of Noah’s Ark, two of everything, all clamouring for attention and in today’s economic climate adding to delivery overhead without contributing much to revenue.

Defenders insist the CTrO is different stating it addresses how technology is used in a way that earns and maintains stakeholder trust. Admirable perhaps, but trust is more robustly and credibly  built by transparent governance, ethical practices and products that are fit for production, do what they say on the tin (NO vaporware), not full of compromises and do not break?

Yes, I am also guilty of promoting the C-Level expansion as I did in my missive recommending the Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer (CAIO). In defence of which I would state that not every new title is pure inflation. Unlike their ornamental peers the CAIO I suspect will become indispensable. AI is not just another strand of stakeholder interest, it’s the engine reshaping operations, compliance and competitive strategy all at once. Unlike the CTrO, the CAIO’s remit is not borrowed but born of urgent complexity, orchestrating ethical use, regulatory alignment, algorithmic transparency, fundamental to business success (or failure as MIT is reporting) in the digital economy and return on investment. In other words, skipping a CAIO isn’t skipping a buzzword, it is like steering a ship without noticing the iceberg.

Still, when has common sense stop such fashionista?  If 2026 is ripe for the Chief Trust-in-Trust Officer, then where does this stop? After all who watches the trust-watchers?