Interim CEO vs fractional CEO vs consultant.
Side-by-side comparison. Pick the right model first. Then hire the person.
| Dimension | Interim CEO | Fractional CEO | Consultant |
|---|---|---|---|
| Role | Sits in the CEO chair | Part-time CEO across multiple companies | External advisor. No chair. |
| Time commitment | Full-time, single company | Two to three days per week | Project-based hours |
| Decision authority | Full P&L, hiring and firing | Defined authority, board-approved | Recommendation only |
| Typical duration | 3 to 12 months | 6 to 24+ months, rolling | Weeks to months per project |
| Pricing | Day rate or monthly retainer | Monthly retainer at part-time rate | Fixed fee or T&M |
| Reports to | Board or controlling shareholder | Board or founder | Sponsor inside the company |
| Legal title (Italy) | Often filed Amministratore Delegato | Rarely filed | Never filed |
| Best used for | Turnaround, CEO exit, post-deal, crisis | Scale-up with limited budget, repeat advisor-with-skin | Diagnostic, strategy, due diligence |
| Risk transfer | Owns the outcome | Shares the outcome | Owns the recommendation |
| Exit | Clean exit on agreed date, successor briefed | Rolls into longer-term advisor or chair | End of engagement |
Source: practitioner experience across Italy and cross-border PE-backed mandates. Pricing ranges on the cost page.
Quick picker
If you only read one line.
- Pick interimfor turnaround, CEO exit, post-acquisition execution or crisis.
- Pick fractionalfor early-stage scale-up with limited budget and ongoing need. For marketing, see fractionalcmo.rent. For the broader fractional manager model, see fractionalmanager.pro.
- Pick consultantfor diagnostic, strategy or due diligence where the chair stays full.
Italian interim roles
Same chair. Different titles in Italy.
In Italy the same temporary executive chair is searched as interim CEO,CEO ad interim,Direttore Generale ad interim,Amministratore Delegato ad interim,manager ad interim ortemporary manager, depending on legal title, reporting line and search language. The hiring logic is identical: a fixed-term leader with full authority, a defined outcome and a clean exit.
Comparison FAQ
Picking the right model.
What is the difference between an interim CEO and a fractional CEO?
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Interim CEO is full-time in a single company on a fixed-term mandate (3 to 12 months) with a clean exit. Fractional CEO is part-time (two to three days a week) across one or several companies on a rolling arrangement. Interim owns the outcome, fractional shares it.
Is an interim CEO the same as a temporary manager in Italy?
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Overlapping but not identical. Temporary manager (temporary management) is the umbrella term in Italy for any fixed-term senior executive, including CFO, COO, CIO or Sales Director. Interim CEO is the C-suite subset that sits in the top chair and reports to the board or controlling shareholder.
Can an interim CEO also work as a management consultant to the same company?
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No. The interim CEO takes the operating chair, signs decisions and owns the result. A consultant advises without accountability. Mixing the two roles inside one engagement destroys the point of hiring an operator, so the mandate has to pick one.
Does an interim CEO replace the COO or CFO?
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No. The interim CEO sits above the C-suite and works with the existing COO and CFO. If either seat is empty or wrong, the interim CEO typically leads the search or the rebuild of that layer as part of the mandate.
What decisions can an interim CEO make without going back to the board?
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Everything inside the delegated authority written into the mandate: hiring and firing within an agreed headcount envelope, spend under a defined capex threshold, commercial contracts under a defined value, day-to-day operating and organisational calls. Anything above the threshold, M&A, financing or shareholder actions goes to the board.
Interim CEO or Amministratore Delegato ad interim, which title should I use in Italy?
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If the interim CEO signs contracts and is filed at the Registro Imprese, the legal title is Amministratore Delegato (or Amministratore Unico for single-director S.r.l.). If the interim role is operational without a filed board seat, Direttore Generale ad interim is the correct label. Same person, same authority; the label follows the filing.
What is the difference between an acting CEO and an interim CEO?
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An acting CEO is an insider (usually the CFO, COO or board chair) covering the top seat temporarily while keeping their own role. Cheap, fast, but conflicted and part-time. An interim CEO is an external full-time operator hired specifically for the gap, with a written mandate, delegated authority and a defined exit. Acting CEO holds the chair. Interim CEO runs the company.
Should I hire an interim CEO or an interim consultant?
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Hire an interim CEO when someone has to sit in the chair, sign decisions and own the P&L. Hire an interim consultant when the company already has a working CEO and needs senior firepower on a specific problem (integration, restructuring, market entry) without displacing the leadership team. Different contracts, different authority, different price.
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