Forced CEO departures are on track to represent a smaller share of overall chief executive turnover in 2026 than in the previous two years, according to research published by the Conference Board on 19 September 2026 in partnership with ESGAUGE, Russell Reynolds Associates and Rutgers Law School’s Center for Corporate Law and Governance. Roughly one in seven CEO successions in both 2024 and 2025 involved a forced exit, with the Russell 3000 recording 49 forced departures in 2024 and 55 in 2025.
Among S&P 500 companies specifically, forced departures rose from seven in 2024 to ten in 2025. The researchers found that through August 2026, healthcare companies accounted for 35% of all Russell 3000 forced departures, the largest share of any single sector this year, after consumer discretionary led forced exits in 2025.
Underperformance remains the top trigger
Underperformance was cited as the primary reason for a forced departure in 44% of cases in 2025, up from 31% in 2024, and it has remained the largest single category through August 2026, the report found. Activist investor pressure was also a significant factor, accounting for eight of 19 forced departures among S&P 500 companies across the period studied.
Size does not predict vulnerability
The researchers found that company size was not consistently linked to the likelihood of a forced exit, with elevated turnover appearing across a range of revenue levels. That finding suggests company-specific performance and strategic missteps, rather than sheer organisational scale, are the stronger predictors of when a board decides to remove its chief executive.
Why It Matters
How often, and why, boards force out CEOs is a barometer of accountability in corporate governance. A concentration of forced departures in healthcare points to particular strain in that sector this year, while the broader easing in forced exits suggests many boards are choosing to work through underperformance with existing leadership rather than making an abrupt change.
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