29th Dec 2022 11:36
(Alliance News) - FTSE 100 firms have seen 13 changes in chief executive officers and nine changes in chief financial officers in 2022, according to AJ Bell.
The 13 changes in CEO was up from 2021's "unusually low" total of eight changes. Another nine changes have also been announced for 2023, and of those, only Unilever has yet to select its new CEO. In 2020, there were 22 changes in CEO, the highest this century.
JD Sports Fashion PLC was the only FTSE 100 firm to have two leaders in 2020, with Kath Smith appointed as interim CEO in May, following the departure of Peter Cowgill who held the position for eight years.
Smith was replaced by Al-Futtaim Group's Régis Schultz, who was appointed as permanent CEO in September, with Smith resuming her role as senior independent director.
Other FTSE100 firms Prudential PLC, Reckitt Benckiser PLC and RS Group PLC all currently have interim CEOs. RS Group's Lindsley Ruth stepped down for personal reasons, while Reckitt's Laxman Narasimhan has been named as the new CEO of Starbucks Corp.
Prudential has appointed its new CEO Anil Wadhwani, who will take control form Mark FitzPatrick in February.
The average tenure of a FTSE 100 CEO is currently just under six years, with 16 having held the position for more than 10 years and Next PLC's Simon Wolfson, Homeserve PLC's Richard Harpin and Ocado Group PLC's Tim Steiner all having been CEO for more than 20 years.
Harpin is set to step down upon the closure of Brookfield Asset Management Ltd's GBP4 billion acquisition of Homeserve, expected to be completed in early 2023.
Only two of the CEOs set to be appointed in 2023 are women, while Jennie Daly's appointment by Taylor Wimpey PLC was the only female CEO appointment in 2022. On the CFO front, there has been more progress, with six of the 10 appointments in 2022 being women and four of the nine for 2023 also female. There are three CFO positions that have yet to be filled.
By Harvey Dorset, Alliance News reporter
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