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IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
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Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.

 

CONTACTS

James K. Pedderson, Director of Public Relations

Office: 312-422-5078

Mobile: 847-567-1463

 

jamespedderson@challengergray.com

Colleen Madden, Media Relations Manager

Office: 312-422-5074

colleenmadden@challengergray.com

 

CEO Departures Surge in September

EXITS UP 17% TO 111; HIGHEST SINCE MAY

 

CHICAGO, October 13, 2010 – Turnover among the nation’s chief executive officers surged to a four-month high in September, as 111 CEO departures were announced during the month. The increase comes just two months after the number of CEO changes dropped to its lowest level since April 2009.

 

September CEO departures were up 17 percent over August, when 95 exits were announced. This is the second consecutive increase and represents the highest monthly total since 125 departures were recorded in May, according to the latest CEO turnover report released Wednesday by global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.

The September total was 5.7 percent higher than the 105 departures announced the same month a year ago. Overall, CEO departures for the year are up only slightly over 2009. Year-to-date, a total of 967 changes have been announced, just 3.0 percent more than the 939 announced by this point last year. 

 

Thirty-seven of the CEOs who left their post in September resigned, bringing the total number of CEO resignations this year to 301. Another 20 stepped down, which typically results in the individual forfeiting the CEO title but remaining with the company as a board member or in some other capacity. Retirement claimed 19 CEOs in September. Retirement remains the second most common reason for departure, accounting for 240 or 25 percent of total departures.  

 

Health care continues to be the area with the highest CEO turnover. Another 23 health care chiefs announced their departures in September. For the year, this sector has seen 165 CEO changes, nearly 10 percent more than the 151 announced by these organizations through September 2009. 

 

The government and non-profit sector has seen the second largest number of CEO changes this year, with 132 to date, including 13 in September. The next closest sector is financial, which has 88 CEO changes this year.

 

“It is difficult to pinpoint an overriding trend when it comes to CEO turnover this year. Several factors are converging, including a volatile economy, an aging CEO population, a brighter spotlight on the CEO position and calls for more accountability on the part of corporate leadership,” noted John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

 

“More and more attention is being given to the expanding gulf between what CEOs earn versus what the rest of the workforce earns. Corporate chiefs and their boards are under increasing pressure to justify the enormous pay differential that often exists, even at companies enacting severe cost-cutting initiatives including job cuts,” said Challenger. 

 

“Under this heightened level of scrutiny, CEOs do not have long to prove themselves. While we don’t have the CEO’s tenure for every departure recorded in September, among those we have, 35 percent were in their position two years or less. Less than half made it beyond five years,” he said.

 

# # #

 

CHIEF EXECUTIVE DEPARTURES
	2010	2009	2008	2007	2006	2005
January	89	113	134	114	139	92
February	132	82	114	127	112	103
March	119	114	123	103	87	129
April	101	78	112	126	115	117
May	125	115	115	144	148	120
June	107	105	126	105	127	120
July	88	126	124	88	118	96
August	95	101	144	124	114	116
September	111	105	140	112	152	121
October		89	125	96	122	96
November		94	104	132	113	118
December		105	123	85	131	94
TOTAL	967	1227	1484	1356	1,478	1,322
Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.©

 

 

CHIEF EXECUTIVE DEPARTURES
Public vs. Private

	September	Year-To-Date	2009 Year-End Total
Private	90	756	911
Public	21	211	316

 

  

 

Copyright 2010 Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.

 

CEO DEPARTURES

By Industry

 

 

Copyright 2010 Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.

 

CEO DEPARTURES

By Reason

	September	Y-T-D
Resigned	37	301
Step Down	20	163
Retired	19	240
New position in another company	19	103
Interim Period Ended	7	64
Removed	3	21
Another position in another company	2	21
Acquisition/Merger	2	11
Scandal	1	6
Health	1	5
Economic Conditions		15
Pressure From Board		4
Died		13

 

 

CEO DEPARTURES

Average Age, Tenure

 

	Age		Tenure
	2010	2009	2010	2009
January	59.0	52.5	8.9	7.9
February	61.5	60.8	8.8	8.4
March	59.2	54.0	8.0	8.3
April	62.1	64.0	9.5	7.3
May	63.9	66.2	8.5	6.8
June	63.1	64.3	9.6	7.5
July	55.8	61.8	8.6	6.2
August	61.8	62.3	8.3	8.0
September	51.5	62.0	8.0	6.1
October		61.0		7.8
November		57.1		6.7
December		58.0		8.1

 

 

Copyright 2010 Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.

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This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

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Stuart Basefsky                   
Director, IWS News Bureau                
Institute for Workplace Studies 
Cornell/ILR School                        
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor             
New York, NY 10016                        
                                   
Telephone: (607) 255-2703                
Fax: (607) 255-9641                       
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu                  
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