“And make sure he knows that it is the standard in almost every business office in America.”
My wife works for a large corporation (over 30,000 employees) and when she refers to and has needed to communicate to a C-level officer, about 6 rungs higher than her in the corporate ladder, he is always referred to and called by first name.
When I was in corporate America, it was the same way; everyone was referred to by first name.