In this edition of HR News You Can Use we share a news release from Spencer Stuart on the 2016 Third Quarter statistics on CEO transitions.
It is notworthy that alost all of the new CEO transitions were internal placements and the reason for the departure of the outgoing CEO was retirement.
Spencer Stuart tracks CEO transitions among S&P 500 companies, reporting transitions on a quarterly and annual basis. The data looks at the companies that have experienced a CEO transition, as defined by the replacement of an outgoing CEO with a permanent CEO. Data include names of incoming and outgoing CEOs; the reason for the new appointment/departure of the former CEO, as reported by the company; the ages of both the outgoing and incoming CEO; and whether the appointment was an internal or external one.
In the third quarter of 2016, 15 S&P 500 companies appointed a new CEO. Among the highlights from this past quarter:
- The average age of the incoming CEO is 51 and the average age for the departing CEO is 59.
- All but one of the incoming CEOs were internal placements, and the one external appointment was M&A related.
- Eleven of the fourteen internal placements were planned successions.
- The role of CEO and board chair are split in all transitions but one.
- The most common reason for change amongst the CEOs was retirement.
- Seven of the fifteen companies with CEO turnover in Q3 are categorized in the Industrial industry.
