CEO Succession Practices: 2018 Edition

CEO Succession Practices: 2018 Edition documents and analyzes CEO succession events of S&P 500 companies (54 in 2017), updating a historical database first introduced by The Conference Board in 2001. This edition highlights the effects that the record bull market following the 2008 Great Recession has had on CEO tenure and age. In 2009, at the peak of the Great Recession, the typical S&P 500 CEO held the position for 7.2 years—the shortest average tenure ever reported by The Conference Board. In 2017, departing CEO tenure was the highest recorded since 2002, at nearly 11 years, and the average age of a sitting S&P 500 CEO was 58.3, or more than two years older than the average CEO in 2009.