Also known as lead underwriter. If there is more than one managing underwriter participating in a registered securities offering, one (or sometimes more) of the managing underwriters is designated as the "lead" manager(s), with the other managing underwriters referred to as co-managers. The lead manager makes the chief decisions with respect to the structure, allocation, timing and pricing of the offering, as well as the preparation of the registration statement and the organization of the road show.

For more information, see Practice Notes, Underwriting Registered Offerings: Overview: Underwriting Parties and Preparing a Company for an Initial Public Offering: Structure of the Underwriting Group.