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James K. Pedderson, Director of Public Relations Colleen Madden, Media Relations Manager
Office: 312-422-5078 Office: 312-422-5074
Mobile: 847-567-1463 colleenmadden@challengergray.com
jamespedderson@challengergray.com
CHICAGO, January 13, 2016 Turnover among the nations chief executive officers
reached a six-month high in December, as 114 vacated their posts during the month, according
to the year-end report on announced CEO departures released Wednesday by global
outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
December exits were 33 percent higher than the 86 changes in November, and 7 percent
higher than the 107 CEO Departures announced in December 2014.
Despite the December surge, total CEO departures of 1,221 in 2015 were 9 percent lower
than the 1,341 CEO departures tracked in 2014. It was the lowest annual total since 2012
when 1,214 chief executives announced their exits.
The final quarter of the year saw 294 CEO departures, down 11 percent from the 332 CEO
changes recorded during the same period in 2014.
Quarterly Totals
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Government/non-profit entities, which include universities, foundations, and chambers of
commerce, led all industries with 27 CEO changes in December and 188 for the year, 5 percent
fewer than the 198 tracked in all of 2014.
Financial firms and hospitals tied for second most CEO changes with 137 each. Financial
companies announced 18 CEO departures in December, while Hospitals announced 11.
Challenger began tracking hospitals and other health care entities separately in 2015.
Computer companies place third for CEO departures with 107, 17.8 percent fewer than the
130 announced departures in 2014. Healthcare companies, excluding hospitals and hospital
systems, announced 93 CEO changes.
2015 failed to see much change in the way of female leaders. Of the 1,025 replacements
Challenger has tracked this year, 868 or 85 percent, were men, which was equal to the
percentage last year.
The number of women replacing men increased slightly by 5 percent from 103 in 2014 to 108
last year. The number of women replacing women stayed virtually constant, as did the the
number of instances where departing female CEOs were replaced by men.
In 2015, 179 women, or 14.6 percent of all CEOs, left the CEO position. Of those, 21 reportedly
became CEOs elsewhere. In 2014, 198 women left the CEO position, 14.7 percent of the 1,341
2014 CEO changes, 22 of whom reportedly went on to become CEO of another organization.
Challenger began tracking interim CEOs who became permanent in June of this year. Since
June, 7 interim CEOs were chosen to remain permanently.
The same number of CEOs retired as resigned (309) resigned this year, while 241 stepped down
into other c-level or board positions. Forty executives were ousted, usually by the board, left
amid scandal or fell into legal trouble, compared to fifty who left for the same reasons in 2014.
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120
100
80
60
40
20
CEO DEPARTURES
Average Age, Tenure
Age Tenure
2015 2014 2015 2014
January 63.4 64 9.9 14.8
February 61.0 63.9 7.9 10
March 63.7 61.7 11.3 11.4
April 62.3 57.5 12.5 9.1
May 61.7 61.1 7.9 8.2
June 61.4 62.4 11.7 8.6
July 60.2 63.8 10.2 8.3
August 54.0 61.7 12.2 9.7
September 70.7 61.2 10.5 8.4
October 60.0 62.5 8.0 10.1
November 64.3 62.6 9.9 7.5
December 64.0 65.0 11.7 10.5
Copyright 2015 Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.