The director-general of the World Health Organization is the chief executive officer of the World Health Organization and the principal advisor to the United Nations on matters pertaining global health.

The Director-General is head of the Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan's premier intelligence service, operationally responsible for providing critical national security and intelligence assessment to the government of Pakistan.

The director-general of the World Trade Organization is the officer of the World Trade Organization responsible for supervising and directing the organization's administrative operations.

The director-general of the British Broadcasting Corporation is chief executive and (from 1994) editor-in-chief of the BBC.