There could be a slew of new three- and four-letter acronyms to get used to if changes in C-Suite functions and roles take hold as outlined in 10 C-Suite Jobs of The Future, a thought-provoking report in FastCompany magazine this week.

For instance:

Chief Intellectual Property Officer

The world of intellectual property law is only getting more vast and complicated as new innovations hit the market. Not only will companies in the near future need a core leadership team member who can wade through the dizzying sea of intellectual property laws and patents to ensure their own compliance, but also remain vigilant to protect their own company against infringement.

“The patent offices do not send people out, we don’t have patent cops going around saying, ‘Hey, you violated something,” says Thomas Frey [executive director and senior futurist of The DaVinci Institute, a futurist think-tank]. “It really ends up coming down to you as a company or you as an individual to manage and defend your own property.”

The full list:

1. Chief Ecosystem Officer
2. Chief User Experience Officer
3. Chief Automation Officer
4. Chief Freelance Relationship Officer
5. Chief Intellectual Property Officer
6. Chief Data Officer
7. Chief Privacy Officer
8. Chief Compliance Officer
9. Chief Human Resources Officer
10. Chief Administrative Officer

I think each of these titles is most likely to appear (I’ve already seen ‘Chief Privacy Officer’) as business and societal landscapes continue to change and organization structures and cultures continue to evolve. Some might need rejigging: we already have ‘CEO’ and ‘CCO’ for instance.

But as long as such new titles have credible foundations – they’re not just fancy labels – that reflect the future of work and workplaces, then they might serve valuable purposes in organizational form and function.

Read the details behind each potential C-Suite title at FastCompany: 10 C-Suite Jobs of The Future.