CEO churn just hit a nine-year low. Your bench noticed.

Russell Reynolds Associates counted 101 CEO departures across the world's largest indices in the first half of 2026, down from 118 a year earlier and the lowest H1 total in the firm's nine-year tracking period ^[1][2][3]. Appointments held close to normal at 131 against a nine-year H1 average of 129 ^[4], so the pipeline is not blocked, but the churn that has been creating internal promotions for two years is thinning at the source ^[5].

The decline is concentrated. According to the memorandum, published on the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance by Rusty O'Kelley and Emma Combe of Russell Reynolds, the Nikkei 225 drove most of it, with departures falling from 30 to 19 and appointments from 33 to 22 ^[6][7]. S&P 500 transitions fell from 36 to 30, with appointments down from 37 to 32 ^[8]. The 17-departure drop globally works out to a 14 percent year-on-year decline ^[9]. Movements elsewhere are too small to read much into: FTSE 100 appointments doubled from three to six against a historical average of seven, and the ASX 200 rose from 11 to 14 against an average of 12 ^[10][11].

Two pressure valves closed at once. Rising stock markets in places like the US reduced the case for forced change ^[12], and Barclays reported that while activist campaign volumes stayed high in Japan and the US, demands concentrated on M&A, with management change accounting for just 3 percent of campaigns globally ^[13].

Incumbents are also staying longer. Departing CEOs globally had served an average of 9.0 years, up from 6.6 in H1 2025 and the second-highest H1 figure in the tracking period after 1H 2023 ^[14][15] -- a 2.4-year increase, or 36 percent ^[16]. FTSE 100 leavers averaged 12.5 years against a nine-year average of 7.7, and Euronext 100 leavers 12.4 against 10.3 ^[17][18].

The composition of hiring is the part that should concern anyone running a development programme. Internal candidates took 88 percent of incoming S&P 500 roles, the highest H1 share on record for the index ^[19], which is roughly 28 of the 32 appointments ^[20]. But 11 of those 32 had already run a public company, up from 8 of 37 a year earlier, and globally 23 percent of incoming CEOs were repeat public-company chief executives, the highest H1 share in nine years ^[21][22]. Nine S&P 500 hires were both internal and previously public-company CEOs; four of those stepped across from the board itself and five held executive roles at the company ^[23]. That makes four of 32 incoming S&P 500 CEOs sitting directors at the time of appointment ^[24], and leaves only two of the 11 experienced hires coming from outside ^[25].

Strip that out and 19 of 32 S&P 500 appointments, 59 percent, were internal candidates without prior public-company CEO experience ^[26]. That is still the modal path, so the door is not shut. It is slower, and the people ahead in the queue now include former CEOs and non-executive directors. On diversity, women took 21 of 131 global appointments, 16 percent and the highest share in the period, but only three of 32 in the S&P 500 ^[27][28].

Watch whether Nikkei turnover rebounds in H2, whether activists rotate demands back from M&A to management change, and whether the board-to-CEO handoff recurs. If it does, the practical question for a strong number two is not whether the company promotes internally, but whether the shortest route to the corner office now runs through someone else's boardroom.