In attendance, holding papers for chief executive (9)
I believe the answer is:
president
'chief executive' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'in attendance holding papers' is the wordplay.
'in attendance' becomes 'present' ('present' can be similar in meaning to 'in attendance').
'holding' is an insertion indicator.
'papers' becomes 'id' (identification papers).
'present' enclosing 'id' is 'PRESIDENT'.
'for' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for president that I've seen before include "Top person" , "authority figure" , "American leader" , "2's official title" , "Lincoln, for example" .)