Leadership1 publisher2 min readPublished
Health care tops the 2026 forced CEO exit table on eight months of data
The Conference Board puts 35% of this year's Russell 3000 forced departures in health care. The same report has forced exits taking a smaller share of 2026 successions than in either prior year, and no single industry profile.
The Board Room · Leadership desk
What happened
- The Conference Board, working with ESGAUGE, Russell Reynolds Associates and Rutgers Law School's corporate law centre, counted forced CEO exits in the Russell 3000 and S&P 500 from 2024 through August 2026.
- Roughly one in seven CEO succession cases at those companies were forced in both 2024 and 2025, on the report's classification of board-influenced exits.
- So far in 2026, forced departures make up a smaller share of CEO succession cases than in either of the two previous years.
- Underperformance rose from 31% of Russell 3000 forced departures in 2024 to 44% in 2025, and it is still the largest reason category through August 2026.
Compiled by The Board RoomSomething wrong?How this is made
Why it matters
- contradiction The same data set concentrates this year's exits in one sector and shows forced turnover taking a smaller share of successions, so it cannot be used to argue both that pressure is rising and that one industry is the target.
- exposure Activists were the principal factor in about 42% of S&P 500 forced exits across the period, so for large-cap CEOs the timing of removal is partly set by holders the board did not choose.
- constraint Because the count works from 8-K filings and company statements, a board comparing its own turnover with these rates is measuring against a floor for board-driven exits.
- decision A board that wants to control the timing has to set its own underperformance threshold in advance. Otherwise a bad quarter and an outside holder set it.
Nineteen S&P 500 CEOs were forced out between 2024 and August 2026 [11]. Seven went in 2024 and 10 in 2025, so two came in 2026 through August [5][18]. In the Russell 3000 the direction was the other way across the first two years, 49 then 55, an increase of six, or about 12% [4][21].
Health care's 35% is published as a share, and The Conference Board did not publish the 2026 year-to-date count of Russell 3000 forced departures behind it [7][22]. The 2025 leader by count was consumer discretionary, over a full twelve months [8]. The report's own summary line says there is "no single industry profile for forced CEO turnover" [9].
The reason category that held across all three periods is underperformance [10]. Applied to the counts, 31% of 49 is about 15 exits in 2024 and 44% of 55 is about 24 in 2025, roughly nine more CEOs leaving for reasons the record attributes principally to performance [20]. ESGAUGE's screen for that label is narrow: the CEO departed before age 64 and the company's industry-adjusted total shareholder return ranked in the bottom quartile, with revenue, stock price and market capitalisation as additional context [16].
Company size did not predict the risk consistently [12]. Elevated rates appeared across the revenue spectrum, and the report puts the driver in company-specific performance and strategic circumstances [12].
The ranking rests on eight months, and CEOs encouraged to leave privately, whose exits were then described publicly as retirements, sit outside the count [7][23]. The Conference Board calls its figures "a conservative measure of publicly identifiable forced succession rather than a complete measure of all board-driven exits" [14]. Neither a voluntary label on the 8-K nor severance eligibility settles the classification [13][15].
The report's advice is to set criteria for when underperformance becomes a leadership issue, keep the succession plan maintained, and stay in contact with shareholders about possible concerns [17]. Both answers to the first item cost something. A board that writes down a trigger such as bottom-quartile industry-adjusted return gives up the discretion to back a turnaround it still believes in; a board that writes nothing keeps that discretion and accepts that an activist may pick the moment instead [11][16].
What to watch
- Whether health care still holds the largest share when the full-year 2026 Russell 3000 count is published.
- Whether the S&P 500's two forced exits through August hold for the rest of the year or converge on 2025's ten.
- Whether underperformance stays above 40% of Russell 3000 forced departures once 2026 reasons are fully coded.