Christine Packham

A CEO cannot legally be held accountable for a company that he/she is not employed by. Therefore, this CEO should be on the payroll of the company for which he/she has direct responsibility. If this CEO is not the CEO of the parent company, he/she should not be an employee of that company.

If this CEO is responsible for only one subsidiary of the parent company, then he/she should be employed by the subsidiary. Please note that if this CEO is responsible for just one subsidiary and he/she is on the parent company's payroll, then he/she in the eyes of the law is the top person in all the companies - there is no position above CEO.

The foregoing was driven by law and logic.