diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index e1ecf7ffbd..960dc043b9 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -928,6 +928,7 @@ include(cmake/dependencies.cmake)
 set(STATUS_PARALLEL "OFF")
 set(IMPORT_MPI "")
 option(NETCDF_ENABLE_PARALLEL4 "Build netCDF-4 with parallel IO" "${HDF5_PARALLEL}")
+option(NETCDF_MPIEXEC "Command to use instead of mpiexec to launch parallel I/O tests" OFF)
 if(NETCDF_ENABLE_PARALLEL4 AND NETCDF_ENABLE_HDF5)
   if(NOT HDF5_PARALLEL)
     set(USE_PARALLEL OFF CACHE BOOL "")
@@ -937,6 +938,10 @@ if(NETCDF_ENABLE_PARALLEL4 AND NETCDF_ENABLE_HDF5)
     set(USE_PARALLEL ON CACHE BOOL "")
     set(USE_PARALLEL4 ON CACHE BOOL "")
     set(STATUS_PARALLEL "ON")
+    if(NETCDF_MPIEXEC)
+      set(MPIEXEC "${NETCDF_MPIEXEC}")
+    endif()
+    message(STATUS "MPIEXEC command will be ${MPIEXEC}")
     configure_file("${netCDF_SOURCE_DIR}/nc_test4/run_par_test.sh.in"
       "${netCDF_BINARY_DIR}/tmp/run_par_test.sh" @ONLY NEWLINE_STYLE LF)
     file(COPY "${netCDF_BINARY_DIR}/tmp/run_par_test.sh"