Unfortunate Title. It's worth looking at some counter-examples, as Capital Structure (often) has precious little to do with management structure. Most non profits mimic the for-profit in organizational structure (ie, run by a CEO, with a staff of VPs...). On the other hand, many for-profit partnerships are quite flat and more egalitarian than their corporate cousins. Also, many co-ops still have a CEO (eg: REI, the outdoor goods store). The outgoing CEO for REI was in fact a banker previously and is now a government "boss" (a/k/a secretary of the interior).