Record number of CEOs left their companies in 2023, report finds

foxbusiness.com:

Workplace expert Andy Challenger on why CEOs have left and how this has impacted companies

C-suite executives reportedly took part in a historic job turnover in the year 2023.

An end-of-year report from business and coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. found that 1,170 CEOs left their positions by the fourth quarter of 2023, marking a 51% increase from the previous year – the highest increase since their tracking began in 2002.

«I think there are a few reasons,» the firm’s senior vice president Andrew Challenger said on «Fox & Friends» Friday, «and they are related to COVID. There were a lot of CEOs that otherwise would have retired in the previous few years, except they didn't want to abandon their ships in the middle of a 100-year storm. So we're seeing them now leave their organizations a few years later.»

«But we're also seeing boards that make decisions about who the leaders are going to be, feel more comfortable. They have more certainty in this post-COVID period about what the world is going to look like to bring in new, fresh leaders,» he continued. «We're seeing lots of external replacements over the past year.»

U.S. ECONOMY ADDS 216K JOBS IN DECEMBER, BEATING EXPECTATIONS

By November, most CEO exits were in the government and nonprofit sectors with 47 leaders leaving, an 86% surge from 2022. The second-highest industry leaves were in healthcare, followed by the technology sector.

According to executive business and coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., the greatest number of CEOs quitting happened in the government and nonprofit sectors. (iStock)

Challenger noted that nonprofit organizations – which had 45 out of 47 of the sector’s exits in Q4 – often include «a lot of little