What are some good places to come up with future start up ideas? How important is it that the CEO come up with the idea themselves?

Start up ideas cannot be fabricated like that. The best start ups ideas come from the "why" and solve a problem that the person is passionate about. It's not just coming up with an idea, it's about whether the idea is solving a problem along with its acceptance and sustainability.

As far as being the CEO, it doesn't matter what the person calls him/her self. Plenty of "founders" or "visionaries" hire or partner with a qualified CEO to run their business once viability is determined.

There really isnt much more to say than what Paul Graham did in this essay http://paulgraham.com/startupideas.html

However, I will add this. As it relates to the CEO coming up with the idea, its a big bonus when founders/ceo are solving their own problem. Its obviously much easier to make a product decision when you can be certain at least one user agrees with it wholeheartedly. That said, Ive build 3 successful (and 1 utter fail) where I was not in fact solving my own problem. In fact I'm working on a new project where I'm not directly the user. But I've come to realize if you are not directly solving your own problems then two things that are essential in building a business:

1) you must become good at extrapolating the needs of users.

2) you must at least be building products that you deeply understand and empathize with.

Ideas: best to come from seeing a need or opportunity and deciding if the PAIN to make it is less than the PLEASURE to the world (better/faster/easier/smarter).

Ideas are easy, starting can be easy too, building is the hard part...thats the CEO