Xiomara Berrios Chief Executive Officer San Antonio, 78209, United States [email protected] · (210) 555-0303
11 September 2026
Ms. Genoveva Maldonado Chair of the Board Oakhaven Environmental Group Denver, United States
Application for Chief Executive Officer, Oakhaven Environmental Group
Dear Ms. Maldonado,
I am writing about the chief executive appointment at Oakhaven Environmental Group. I have run three companies: a founder-owned instrumentation business that went from $28 million to $41 million, a sponsor-owned filtration business that went from $96 million to $178 million and through a sale in 2021, and since 2021 a $410 million industrial water technology group with 1,600 people across nine sites in three countries. The mandate you have described, separating a services arm and repairing the balance sheet ahead of a generational handover, is close to the one I was given in 2021.
At Calderhaven I arrived to $288 million of revenue, a 7.4 percent operating margin, net debt at 3.9 times and two of seven executive seats empty. The group now runs at $410 million and 13.1 percent, with net debt at 1.6 times. Most of that came from one decision rather than from many. I recommended exiting the municipal contracting arm, which was 18 percent of revenue at a negative contribution margin and the cause of the working capital swings our lenders kept asking about. The board approved it four to three. I carried it, the sale completed in 2023, and we then raised $45 million of minority growth equity to fund two plant expansions without adding senior debt and returned $26 million to shareholders across 2024 and 2025.
The part I would want to discuss with your board is the executive team, because that is where this kind of mandate is usually won or lost. I filled seven seats at Calderhaven, five from outside and two by promotion, and I filled finance first, in month four, because nothing else could be relied on until that was settled. Six of the seven are still in post. Your published leadership page shows an interim in the finance seat and a recent split of the operations and technical roles, which is a sequencing question I have now been through twice.
I would come to a first conversation with questions rather than a plan: what the family expects the group to look like in five years, how divided the board is about the services arm, and what the lenders have been told. Thank you for considering this.
Sincerely, Xiomara Berrios
Summary
A CEO cover letter is a one page letter to a board chair or a search partner. It names the mandate you would be taking on, gives the company you run now at arrival and today, states the capital you raised or returned, and describes one decision that was yours alone. This guide gives you a full adaptable letter, the openings that work, and what must stay off the page.
CEO cover letter examples by experience level
A CEO cover letter is a one page letter, usually addressed to a board chair, a nomination committee or a search partner, that does something a resume cannot: it says which mandate you are volunteering for.
The resume lists what you did. The letter says why this company, with this particular problem, is one you have solved before. Boards appoint against a problem, and a letter that names it accurately is read twice.
Guide to a CEO cover letter
This guide and the corresponding CEO cover letter example will cover:
- Who the letter is actually for, and how that changes the first sentence
- How to structure it, paragraph by paragraph
- A full adaptable letter you can rework
- Openings that work, and the four that do not
- What must stay off the page entirely
How to write a CEO cover letter
| Paragraph | Its job | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Opening | The appointment, your companies in one line, and the mandate you match | 3 to 4 sentences |
| Evidence | One company: arrival position, position now, and the decision that moved it | 5 to 6 sentences |
| Fit | Something you have read about their situation, and the part you have done before | 3 to 4 sentences |
| Close | The questions you would bring, and a thank you | 2 to 3 sentences |
Write to the problem the board is trying to solve
Boards rarely appoint a chief executive because the seat is empty. They appoint because something has to change: a founder is retiring, an owner wants a sale, a merger has to be integrated, or the incumbent could not do the one thing the board wanted.
Whatever is public about that is usually enough: an annual report, a filing, a local news story, a change of ownership. One accurate sentence about what the board is trying to fix beats a paragraph about your leadership philosophy.
A CEO cover letter example you can adapt
Dear Ms. Maldonado,
I am writing about the chief executive appointment at Oakhaven Environmental Group. I have run three companies: a founder-owned instrumentation business that went from $28 million to $41 million, a sponsor-owned filtration business that went from $96 million to $178 million and through a sale in 2021, and since 2021 a $410 million industrial water technology group with 1,600 people across nine sites in three countries. The mandate you have described, separating a services arm and repairing the balance sheet ahead of a generational handover, is close to the one I was given in 2021.
At Calderhaven I arrived to $288 million of revenue, a 7.4 percent operating margin, net debt at 3.9 times and two of seven executive seats empty. The group now runs at $410 million and 13.1 percent, with net debt at 1.6 times. Most of that came from one decision rather than from many. I recommended exiting the municipal contracting arm, which was 18 percent of revenue at a negative contribution margin and the cause of the working capital swings our lenders kept asking about. The board approved it four to three. I carried it, the sale completed in 2023, and we then raised $45 million of minority growth equity to fund two plant expansions without adding senior debt and returned $26 million to shareholders across 2024 and 2025.
The part I would want to discuss with your board is the executive team, because that is where this kind of mandate is usually won or lost. I filled seven seats at Calderhaven, five from outside and two by promotion, and I filled finance first, in month four, because nothing else could be relied on until that was settled. Six of the seven are still in post. Your published leadership page shows an interim in the finance seat and a recent split of the operations and technical roles, which is a sequencing question I have now been through twice.
I would come to a first conversation with questions rather than a plan: what the family expects the group to look like in five years, how divided the board is about the services arm, and what the lenders have been told. Thank you for considering this.
Sincerely, Xiomara Berrios
Openings that work
| Instead of | Use |
|---|---|
| I am writing to express my interest in the CEO position | I am writing about the chief executive appointment at Oakhaven Environmental Group |
| I am a visionary leader with a proven track record of transformation | I have run three companies, the largest at $410 million with 1,600 people across nine sites |
| I am passionate about building high-performing organizations | The mandate you have described is close to the one I was given in 2021 |
| I believe I would be an excellent fit for your organization | I arrived at $288 million and 7.4 percent; the group runs at $410 million and 13.1 percent now |
Writing to a board rather than to a hiring manager
The reader changes the letter more than the company does. A board chair is assessing judgment, temperament and fit with directors who will work with you for years. A search partner is assessing whether you will survive the committee. An owner is assessing whether their money is safer with you than with the alternative.
Address a named person, write plain declarative sentences, and be specific about what you do not know, because certainty about a company you have never worked in loses a serious reader fastest.
Name the mandate in the first paragraph and say which of yours it resembles. Give one company with the same measures at arrival and today. Name the decision that was yours alone, and the board vote if it was close. Close with the questions you would bring to a first meeting.
Do not describe yourself as visionary, transformational or a change agent; boards read those words as a substitute for numbers. Do not present a hundred day plan unprompted; you do not have the information to write one and both of you know it. Do not claim a board decision as yours. Do not write more than one page.
What you may not put in a CEO cover letter
Off the page entirely: unannounced results, any transaction that has not closed, private valuations and multiples, terms on a private facility, customer names and contract values, anything from a data room or a board pack, and the identity of an investor or bidder who has not made themselves public. For a company with registered securities that is governed rather than discretionary.
Also off the page: anything about a named individual. Describe the decision and the vote, never the person. Otherwise a board concludes you would one day describe them the same way.
The market you are actually writing into
There were 291,600 chief executives in the United States in 2025, with employment projected to grow 3 percent, about 9,300 posts, through 2035; annual openings are published only for the wider top executives group, at about 304,100 (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025 to 2035 projections). Self-employed people account for 27 percent of the occupation (BLS, 2025 industry employment data).
This is a replacement and succession market rather than a growth market, so appointments are made through boards, owners and search partners rather than open competitions. The range behind the single title is enormous: the May 2025 median was $213,990, with the lowest 10 percent under $75,700 and the highest 10 percent over $507,730 (BLS, May 2025), covering straight-time gross pay and excluding year-end bonuses, profit-sharing and stock bonuses (BLS, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey documentation, accessed 13 September 2026). A letter that does not size the companies you have run leaves the reader unable to place you.
Length, format and sending it
One page, four paragraphs, 300 to 450 words. PDF, named for yourself and the appointment: xiomara-berrios-oakhaven-chief-executive-letter.pdf. If a search firm asks for the letter in the body of an email, send it there and attach only the resume.
Use the same numbers as your resume; a board chair who finds two different revenue figures across your documents has learned something they will not unlearn. Our CEO resume example is written with the figures used here.
Key takeaways
- Name the mandate in the first paragraph and say which of yours it resembles.
- Give one company, with the same measures at arrival and today.
- State the capital raised, refinanced or returned, with the year.
- Name the decision that was yours alone, and the board vote if it was close.
- Reference one thing that is genuinely public about their situation.
- Close with questions rather than a plan.
- Address a named director or search partner, and keep it to one page.
Write your CEO cover letter in 10 minutes with our AI cover letter builder.
CEO cover letter questions, answered
Does a CEO candidate need a cover letter at all?
More often than at any other level, because the approach is frequently informal. A director forwards a name, a search partner asks for "something I can circulate", an owner asks what you would do. That letter is often read by people who never open the resume.
Who should the letter be addressed to?
The board chair or the chair of the nomination committee where the approach is direct, and the search partner where a firm is running the process. If you cannot identify a person, address the chair by title rather than writing to a committee in the abstract.
How much should I say about why I am leaving my current company?
One clause, and only if the situation invites the question. A completed mandate, a sale, a founder returning or a board that has appointed an internal successor are all ordinary and easily said. A paragraph of explanation turns a neutral fact into a subject.
Should I include a hundred day plan?
Not unprompted. You do not have the information to write a credible one from outside, and a board reading a confident plan built on public data mostly notices what you got wrong. Put your three best questions in the closing paragraph instead.
Can I write the same letter to several chief executive searches?
The evidence paragraph can be common; the first and third paragraphs cannot. Those two are where the mandate and the company live, and they are the only reason a director keeps reading.