C-Suite & Board Moves

The pace of CEO change has risen dramatically, but female CEO hires are still less than one-third across industries.

The third quarter of 2023 witnessed 518 CEO departures reflecting a 166% increase from the third quarter of 2022 and a 5.9% increase from the previous quarter. In September alone, 164 U.S. companies changed CEOs, twice the 74 departures in September 2022. When considering gender, the rate of new CEOs who are women has not risen but has held steady throughout this year at almost 29%*.

Surprisingly, the worst industry for female representation in the Chief Executive role is RETAIL! Over the past 12 months, 39 retail CEOs (12 women and 27 men) have been replaced, and in the process, six fewer women were appointed as replacements. Further, women's tenure in the top spot is 21/2 years shorter than men. Equally surprising, especially considering that most people would agree the retail sector is struggling to keep pace with the rapidly changing consumer behavior and technology advances, of the 39 new CEOs, only 7 came from outside the retail sector.

*Challenger Gray & Christmas

C-Suite and Boardroom changes across the Consumer sector

PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ: PYPL) recently named a new Chief Executive Officer, Alex Chriss. It's a rough road ahead for the former Intuit executive as the company is facing lackluster profit growth and disappointing results from its popular Venmo app. PayPal stock has plunged 86% from its all-time high of 310.16 on July 26, 2021.

Andre Persaud, formerly Chief Retail Officer of Rite-Aid, joins UNFI (NYSE: UNFI) as President & CEO of Retail to lead the Cub Foods and Shoppers Food Warehouse supermarket business units.

After its recent attempt at CEO succession ended in disappointment, Keurig Dr Pepper (NASDAQ: KDP) has gone outside the organization to name Tom Cofer, formerly of Mondelez and Central Garden & Pet, as COO with anticipated succession as CEO when Robert Gamgort will ascend to Executive Chairman effective Q2 ’24.

Michele Gass, Independent Director of PepsiCo and formerly CEO of Kohls, joins Levi Strauss (NYSE: LEVI) as President in a planned succession to Chip Bergh as CEO.

Freshpet, (NASDAQ: FRPT) adds Joseph Scalzo to their Board. Scalzo was President & CEO, and currently Vice Chair, of Simply Good Foods.

Solo Brands, Inc. (NYSE: DTC) has announced a CFO transition as Somer Webb steps down and Andrea Tarbox assumes the Interim Chief Financial Officer role.

Panera Brands announced José Alberto Dueñas, currently President & CEO of subsidiary Einstein Bros Bagels, will become CEO of Panera Brands while current CEO, Niren Chaudhary will move into the Board Chair role until January 2024, at which time he will become an Independent Director. Michael Tattersfield is stepping down from his role as CEO of Krispy Kreme and will become Board Chair of Panera in January as it prepares for its IPO.

Kelly Grier adds another board role as she has been named Independent Director at Bookings Holdings (NASDAQ: BKNG).

Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM) announced the promotion of Sean Tresvant to Taco Bell Division Chief Executive Officer effective January 1, 2024. Tresvant, who currently serves as Global Chief Brand and Strategy Officer of Taco Bell, will succeed Mark King, who has announced his decision to retire at the end of 2023.

Restaurant digital tech company Toast has appointed its co-founder and COO Aman Narang as its new CEO, replacing the current CEO, Chris Comparato, who will stay on as board director, effective January 2024.

Thomas Fuller is a Partner at August Leadership a global executive search & leadership consulting firm. Based in the firm’s New York offices, Tom leads senior level searches across the Global Consumer sector as well as in the firm’s Board, Life Science, Private Equity and Digital practices.

An NACD Certified Board Director & Governance Fellow, Tom is a regular contributor to LinkedIn Forums, Board Prospects and Business Insider and has his own blog, Return on Leaders, where he regularly shares insights about leadership and its correlation to ROI and superior performance. Tom can be reached via email at Thomas.Fuller@AugustLeadership.com, or by phone 212-392-4842.