Retail CEO turnover soars, fewer women hold CEO jobs

Turnover in C-suites spiked across industries last year — and in retail in particular.

Next week, new CEOs will take over at both Levi Strauss and Macy’s, from their current offices elsewhere in the companies. But turnover in corner offices goes well beyond those big names.

Last year, U.S. companies announced 55% more CEO changes than in 2022, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The 1,914 departures in 2023 set a record since the firm started tracking the data in 2002. The firm tracks public U.S. businesses, along with private, government and nonprofit companies that have CEO positions.

“There was a lot of reticence among CEOs to leave their organizations in the middle of the Covid crisis,” said Andy Challenger, senior vice president at Challenger, Gray & Christmas. “Covid rocked retail in a really significant way. Boards didn’t want to make changes, CEOs themselves didn’t want to leave. And now as that storm has passed, I think there’s been this pent-up demand for people to leave.”

Challenger said the pandemic accelerated changes in consumer preferences, which has forced companies’ boards of directors to look for new strategies and leaders to adapt.

The retail industry in 2023 saw 52 CEO departures, its second-highest number since Challenger, Gray & Christmas started tracking them, and more than double the 21 CEO turnovers in 2022, according to the firm’s data. It was below 2019’s record 63 CEO departures in the industry.

“Retail, probably, has seen the biggest shakeup in its leadership for a long time,” Challenger said.

In Korn Ferry’s separate analysis of retail CEO turnover in 2023, the executive recruitment firm found 57% of new chief executives named in the industry last year were already working for the company they will lead. Of the 43% of external hires, 45% came…