CEO Executive Assistant
Published October 22, 2026.
An office move is usually managed as a real-estate and facilities project. For the CEO’s office, it is also an access-control event, a records event, and a continuity event. The new suite can be beautiful and still inherit a stack of old problems: badges that were never returned, documents that were packed without a disposition decision, a mail route that still points to the old building, and a CEO who cannot find the board materials on the first morning.
The executive office needs a small command center that owns the move from the CEO’s side. It does not replace facilities, IT, or security. It makes sure the CEO’s work, records, and access are ready on day one and that nothing sensitive is lost in the transition.
Define the command center before the move starts
Name one owner for the executive-office workstream and one backup. The owner should have authority to schedule the CEO’s time, ask for access lists, and escalate a blocked dependency. The backup should be able to run the plan without a handover meeting.
The command center has five functions: schedule, records, access, technology, and communications. Each function needs a named owner, a weekly checkpoint, and a single restricted source of truth. If the move is large enough to have a facilities war room, the executive-office owner should attend it, but should not let the executive-office plan be absorbed into a general status report.
Build a twelve-week sequence
The exact timing depends on the lease and the build-out, but a twelve-week internal sequence gives the executive office enough room to make decisions without freezing the whole company.
Twelve to eight weeks out
Confirm the move date, the new address, the floor plan, the CEO’s office location, and the secure storage location. Ask facilities for the loading plan, the elevator schedule, and the after-hours access rules. Ask IT for the network cutover, phone numbers, printer configuration, and the date the old systems will be disabled.
Start the records inventory. Identify active files, reference files, duplicates, and records that are subject to a legal hold or retention requirement. Do not let the move become an excuse to destroy records without a documented disposition decision.
Eight to four weeks out
Decide what moves, what is digitized, what is stored, and what is securely destroyed. Assign a custodian to every box that contains sensitive material. Build the box list with a unique identifier, the contents category, the destination, and the responsible person.
Review access. List every badge, key, cabinet key, parking credential, alarm code, and visitor credential associated with the old suite. Decide which ones need to be returned, reissued, or retired. Coordinate with security and the landlord. Do not assume that a badge stops working when the lease ends.
Four to two weeks out
Confirm the new office setup: furniture, lockable storage, shred bins, mail sorting, visitor reception, and the CEO’s privacy requirements. Test the network, the phone, the printer, the video-conference room, and the badge reader. If the CEO takes confidential calls, confirm that the new walls and doors actually provide the privacy the old office had.
Send the address change to the people who need it, on a need-to-know basis. Update the internal directory, the board portal, the travel profile, and the vendor records. Do not publish the CEO’s new direct line or office location publicly until security and communications agree.
Two weeks to one week out
Pack the CEO’s personal items with the CEO or a designated assistant present. Keep the CEO’s active working files separate from the general move. Label the “first morning” box with the items the CEO needs before the network is ready: the current board book, the signature stamp or token, the contact list, and the charger.
Confirm the mail-forwarding plan, the courier instructions, and the reception script. A vendor who arrives at the old building on the first morning should be redirected without disclosing the CEO’s schedule.
Move week
Run a daily fifteen-minute stand-up with the five function owners. Track the critical path: records packed, access issued, network live, mail redirected, and the CEO’s office ready. Do not mark the move complete because the furniture arrived. Mark it complete when the CEO can work and the old access is closed.
Treat records as a disposition decision
The move is a natural moment to reduce paper, but it is not a natural moment to destroy records. Use the company’s retention schedule and the legal hold list. If a record is subject to a hold, it moves with a custodian and a log, even if the new office has no space for it.
For each box, record the contents category, the date range, the retention requirement, the disposition action, and the approver. If the record is digitized, confirm the scan quality and the index before the paper is destroyed. Keep the disposition certificate with the move record.
NARA’s records management guidance is a useful reference for the questions to ask about retention and disposition, but the company’s own schedule and counsel’s instructions control. NARA records management.
Close the old access, then open the new
Build an access matrix with three columns: old location, new location, and action. Include employee badges, contractor badges, visitor passes, keys, cabinet codes, alarm codes, parking, mailroom, and any shared credentials. Assign a date and an owner to each action. The old access should be closed by the move date; the new access should be tested before the CEO arrives.
Do not reuse a badge or key that was issued to a former employee or a contractor who no longer supports the office. Do not move a filing cabinet without knowing who has the key. If the cabinet cannot be opened, treat it as a records exception rather than forcing it.
Protect the first morning
The first morning is the real acceptance test. Walk the route from the entrance to the CEO’s office. Check the badge reader, the reception desk, the elevator, the restroom, the coffee, the network, the phone, the printer, and the lockable storage. Put the first-morning box in the office before the CEO arrives.
Brief the receptionist and the security desk on the CEO’s arrival, the visitor policy, and the names of the people who are expected. Give the CEO a one-page card with the new address, the parking or transit route, the reception contact, the IT help number, and the facilities contact.
Verify after the move
One week after the move, audit the access matrix, the box list, the mail-forwarding results, and the records disposition log. Confirm that the old badges are deactivated, the old keys are returned, the old mail is forwarded, and the new storage is locked. Ask the CEO and the assistant what is still missing.
Thirty days after the move, review the exceptions. A missing file, a stale directory listing, or a vendor still using the old address is a signal that the move is not finished. Close the exceptions with an owner and a date.
An office move is a test of the executive office’s ability to keep the CEO’s work continuous while the physical environment changes. For the access and records side of a departure, see third-party access offboarding and departing executive records transition. Administrative operations support can own the recurring move checklist through administrative operations.