Equilar CEO Tracker: Q1 2022 Update

May 24, 2022

Owen Gilles

Key Findings:

1. 15 announced CEO departures in Q1 2022 versus 49 in all of 2021

2. One appointed CEO in 2022 so far is a woman versus three in all of 2021

3. 20% of appointed CEOs in 2022 so far are external hires versus 17% in all of 2021

Equilar 500 companies have announced 15 CEO departures through the first quarter of 2022. This compares to a total of 49 announced CEO departures in all of 2021. Five of the 15 CEOs departed by the end of the first quarter with 10 others expected to leave later this year.

The average CEO lifetime pay for all 15 departing CEOs is $159.5 million, with a median of $109.1 million. Frederick W. Smith III (FedEx Corporation), whose tenure surpassed 24 years, earned the highest total CEO lifetime pay at $393.8 million. Dennis V. Arriola (Avangrid, Inc.), with a tenure of less than two years, had the lowest CEO pay at $1.8 million.

During the first quarter of 2022, no female CEOs announced their departures. One woman was appointed CEO, on an interim basis, in the first quarter of 2022, Sara E. Nash (Bath & Body Works, Inc.). In addition, Sarah London was appointed CEO at Centene Corporation following the announcement of Michael F. Neidorff’s transition to Executive Chairman in 2021. The prevalence of women appointed as CEOs in the Equilar 500 decreased from 16% in 2020 to 6% in 2021.

Overall, external appointments decreased from 27% in 2020 to 17% in 2021. For all announced appointments through Q1 2022, 20% of CEOs appointed have been external hires.

Departures

Successors

Contact

Owen Gilles

Senior Research Analyst at Equilar

Owen Gilles, Senior Research Analyst at Equilar, authored this post. Please contact Amit Batish, Director, Content & Communications, at abatish@equilar.com for more information on Equilar research and data analysis.