Boards face succession crunch as CEOs and CFOs near retirement age
Cowen Partners says retirements could cluster from 2029 to 2034, putting pressure on boards to prepare new leadership pipelines.
By Hana Yoshida · Markets Reporter
3 min read
Large U.S. companies may be approaching a wave of retirements in their top executive ranks, creating succession risks for boards and investors. Cowen Partners, an executive search firm, says the pressure could build sharply between 2029 and 2034 as baby boomer leaders leave senior posts.
Shawn Cole, president and founding partner of Cowen Partners, told Fortune that corporate leadership is nearing a point where the current pool of executives may no longer support the usual rotation of senior jobs. He said boards should treat succession as a governance issue rather than a search process that begins after a leader announces plans to leave.
CEO and CFO roles show the most exposure
Cowen Partners based its analysis on age data for CEOs and CFOs at 50 S&P 500 companies, using 2024 and 2025 DEF 14A proxy filings available through the SEC’s EDGAR database, Fortune reported. Cole said the firm chose companies across industries and market-cap ranges to limit sector bias and used 65 as the baseline retirement age.
The review found the highest near-term risk in the CEO and CFO posts. According to Cowen Partners, 42% of CEOs in the sample were 60 or older, the average CEO age was 59, and 16% had already reached or passed 65.
Fortune also cited its own earlier analysis showing that about 41.5% of Russell 3000 CEOs were at least 60 years old last year, up from 35.1% in 2017. Cowen Partners found that 25% of CFOs in its S&P 500 sample were within five years of the firm’s retirement benchmark.
Across the CEO and CFO positions combined, Cowen Partners said 33.7% fell within the retirement window at the same time. Cole told Fortune the risk is larger when both roles turn over close together, because a new chief executive may lack a finance chief with deep knowledge of the company, board and operating routines.
Some sectors face heavier strain
Cowen Partners said financial services, industrials and health care showed the clearest exposure. The firm linked that risk to concentrations of long-serving leaders who may retire around the same period.
Technology companies face an added challenge, according to Cole. Cowen Partners found that the issue in tech is partly demographic, but also tied to changes in what companies need from finance leaders as artificial intelligence affects business models and capital spending.
Cole told Fortune that a CFO who led a technology company before the rise of AI may have relied on a different set of skills than one needed for an AI-driven shift in the core business. He said capital allocation under uncertainty is becoming a larger part of the job.
That means technology boards must plan for both retirement timing and a changing role definition, Cole said. He described the problem as hiring for a job whose requirements are still shifting.
Cowen Partners’ review covered only 50 S&P 500 companies, but Fortune said the findings point to a broader leadership issue arriving as AI becomes more prominent at work. Cole said boards that fail to build credible internal and external succession pipelines could face accountability for leadership gaps.
This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.