Can any old Tom, Dick or Harry be CEO?

The answer is yes, according to Factiva Sales Works, although CEOs of UK companies are more likely to be called John, David and Michael.

Of the 3,200+ CEOs of UK companies profiled in Factiva Sales Works, 6.1% (198 people) are called John, 6.0% (195) are called David and 4.0% (131) are called Michael.  The names Tom (Thomas), Richard (Dick) and Harry account for just 0.8% (27), 2.2% (71) and 0.3% (10) of UK CEO names respectively, with a combined total of 3.3%.

Like their CEO counterparts, the names John, David then Michael are the three most common names amongst the 89,700+ Managing Directors and 3,200+ UK company Presidents profiled on Factiva Sales Works. 7.9% (7,106) of Managing Directors are called John, 5.7% (5,078) are called David and 4.3% (3,825) are called Michael.

The most frequently cited first names amongst Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) of UK companies are again John, David and Michael, although there are more CFOs called David than John.  Of the 1,300+ UK CFOs profiled in Factiva Sales Works, the percentage of CFOs called David accounts for 6.8% of the total CFOs, (90), John accounts for 5.9% (79) and Michael accounts for 3.6% (48).  The names Tom (Thomas), Richard (Dick) and Harry account for 0.5% (7), 2.3% (31) and 0.2% (2) of UK CFO names respectively, with a combined total of 3.0% (40).

For the ladies, Linda and Susan are the two most common names for female CEOs in the UK profiled in Factiva Sales Works.  Susan, Margaret and Elizabeth are the Top Three most common names for female Managing Directors in the UK, with 136, 134 and 105 references respectively.

Factiva Sales Works delivers a rich collection of business-critical information about companies, industries and executives in an easy to use interface designed specifically for sales professionals.

In a market climate where salespeople must be more prepared in their approach than ever before, they can at least be assured that if they do target any old Tom, Dick or Harry, the executives with those names on Factiva Sales Works are major decision makers in corporations across the United Kingdom.