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Fortune 500

Turnover at the Top: The Number of CEOs Leaving Their Posts Is Increasing

By
Grace Donnelly
Grace Donnelly
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By
Grace Donnelly
Grace Donnelly
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August 30, 2018, 10:42 AM ET

THE CORNER OFFICE has grown a bit more white and a bit more male.

Indra Nooyi, who has spent 12 years as chief executive of PepsiCo, will be clearing out her desk this month after 24 years with the company.

Nooyi is the latest in a continuing string of Big Food and consumer packaged goods departures. This past year has seen the exits of Irene Rosenfeld from Mondelez and Denise Morrison from Campbell Soup. Those two plus Nooyi were replaced by men, leaving just 24 women running Fortune 500 companies.

With Kenneth Chenault leaving American Express, the number of black CEOs in the Fortune 500 is now just three—TIAA’s Roger Ferguson, Merck’s Ken Frazier, and Lowe’s Marvin Ellison—the lowest number since we started tracking in 2002.

In total, 91 chief executives of Fortune 500 companies left their posts as of August, according to SEC filings.

Across U.S. companies of all sizes, the number of CEOs leaving their posts has increased 8% compared to last year. According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, 725 CEOs have handed in their security pass already in 2018, the most since 2014.

Despite the #MeToo movement, just 10 of those exits were the result of scandals.

A version of this article appears in the September 1, 2018 issue of Fortune with the headline “Turnover at the Top.” An early version of this article said there were two black CEOs in the Fortune 500; in fact, there are three.

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