After a rather hectic reign, Karen Lynch has been replaced as CEO at CVS Pharmacy Corp. by longtime executive David Joyner. Prior to her departure, Lynch was the highest-ranking female CEO on the Fortune 500, with CVS coming in at No. 6 on this list overall. Although she’s only one person, her departure is a blow to female leaders across the Fortune 500 list who are far outnumbered by their male counterparts.
CVS has struggled after repeatedly missing earnings targets and announced third-quarter earnings would come in well below Wall Street expectations. The stock price is down more than 26% year to date, and dropped by more than 8% on the news of Lynch’s departure.
“The Board believes this is the right time to make a change, and we are confident that David is the right person to lead our company for the benefit of all stakeholders, including customers, employees, patients, and shareholders,” said Roger Farah, who was named executive chairman of CVS after previously serving as chairman of the board.
When the Fortune 500 was released in June of this year, only 10.4%, or 52 CEOs, were women. While that’s a big jump from 24 female leaders who made the list in 2018, progress has stalled overall, and Lynch’s departure is a setback for a group that was small to begin with. That slowdown may be due to a decrease in executive turnover since the pandemic.
As of today, there are 55 women leading Fortune 500 companies—mining company Freeport-McMoRan and trucking company J.B. Hunt Transport both hired female CEOs this year. Oil giant Marathon Petroleum and financial consultancy Freddie Mac also recently appointed female CEOs.