Professional Scouter (Boy Scouts of America)

The Boy Scouts of America is an organization run by volunteers, however the day-to-day administration is performed by a staff of professional (or career) Scouters. The organization has professional staffing at every level—district, council, regional and national. The Chief Scout Executive is the top professional Scouter.

The commissioner position is the second oldest in Scouting (Scoutmaster is the oldest) and is the origin of the professional Scouting positions, which is why position insignia of the professional Scouter have the wreath of service as a feature on all professional position patches.

In the earliest days of the BSA, some commissioners were paid by local benefactors and supporters to administer and "grow Scouting" on a daily basis. This was because as the program expanded and more Scout Troops were formed, the capabilities and abilities of the volunteer commissioner to devote time and effort away from their primary work to make Scouting work was stressed. These first "Scout executive commissioners" (shortened to "Scout executives") were critical in expanding the BSA's outreach in urban and rural areas around the nation and eventually were under the direction of James E. West, the BSA's first national Chief Scout Executive.