CHRO Succession Grows More Deliberate as Organizations Prioritize Experience and Transformation
June 9, 2026 – The role of the chief human resources officer continues to evolve as organizations navigate workforce transformation, leadership succession, technological disruption, and shifting employee expectations. Once viewed primarily as a steward of talent and culture, today’s CHRO is increasingly expected to serve as a strategic business partner, helping shape enterprise priorities while ensuring organizations have the leadership, capabilities, and workforce models needed to execute them. As a result, CHRO succession decisions are attracting greater scrutiny from boards and CEOs, who are placing heightened importance on selecting leaders capable of balancing long-term talent strategy with immediate business demands.
Against this backdrop, Russell Reynolds Associates’ latest Global CHRO Turnover Index offers a snapshot of how organizations are approaching leadership transitions in the HR function. The first-quarter 2026 data reveals a market that remains active but increasingly selective, with companies taking a more deliberate approach to succession planning, external hiring, leadership experience, and tenure. The findings provide insight into how organizations are redefining the CHRO role and the qualities they are prioritizing in the next generation of HR leaders.
The report found that global CHRO turnover has eased, but remains in with historical norms. Global CHRO turnover softened slightly in the first quarter of 2026, though overall activity remained broadly in line with longer-term norms, according to the Russell Reynolds report. A total of 43 CHROs were appointed globally across the indices we track, down from 46 in the first quarter of 2025. Meanwhile, 43 CHROs departed the role, down from 46 a year earlier.
Regionally, the S&P 500 was particularly quiet, with just 15 CHRO appointments in the first quarter of 2026, down from 23 a year earlier. Likewise, hiring activity was also muted across several Asia Pacific indices, including the ASX 100, Nikkei 225, and Hang Seng.
“Organizations in these markets may be making fewer CHRO changes as they seek continuity on their people agendas amid a volatile operating environment and rising transformation demands,” the Russell Reynolds report explained. However, the FTSE 100 bucked the global trend, recording a more active quarter, although based on a smaller sample. There were a total of four CHRO appointments and four departures in Q1 2026, up from two appointments and two exits in Q1 2025.
More Selective CHRO Changes
“The broader message from the quarter is not one of retrenchment, but of restraint,” the Russell Reynolds report said. “Organizations are still making CHRO changes, but doing so more selectively.”
The report also found that first-time CHROs regain ground globally, but large public markets begin to favor experience. First-time CHROs remained the majority of global appointments in Q1 2026, rising to 60 percent from 54 percent in Q1 2025. “However, in some of the largest and most closely watched markets, boards appear to be placing a higher premium on CHRO experience,” the Russell Reynolds report said.
In the S&P 500, 60 percent of incoming CHROs had already held a CHRO role at a public company, up from 39 percent in the first quarter of 2025. This is only the second time experienced hires dominated S&P 500 appointments since Russell Reynolds began tracking the data in 2019. In the FTSE 100, 75percent of incoming CHROs had previously held a public company CHRO role, up from 50 percent a year earlier.
The CHRO’s Leadership Imperative in the AI Era
As organizations accelerate their adoption of artificial intelligence, business leaders are increasingly recognizing that successful transformation depends as much on people and leadership as it does on technology itself. HR executives, in particular, are finding themselves at the center of conversations around workforce readiness, employee trust, skills development, and organizational change management. Industry observers note that while AI may be driving operational innovation, many companies are still working to define how leadership, culture, and human judgment will evolve alongside these new capabilities.
As AI is embedded in everyday decisions and workflows, outcomes are shaped as much by leadership choices and people as by technology, according to a new report from Egon Zehnder’s Kristen Burke. “Every serious AI conversation eventually becomes a people conversation about trust, skills-building, and how leaders show up,” the study said. “Human resources leaders sit at the center of that reality.”
As the CHRO role becomes more commercially connected and more central to organizational transformation, boards and CEOs may be putting greater weight on leaders who have already operated at that level and bring a proven track record, according to the Russell Reynolds report. “It may also reflect a pipeline issue. In some organizations, there may be no clear internal CHRO successor,” it said. “In others, internal candidates may not yet have been developed against the future requirements of the role. As the CHRO role evolves significantly, these factors are now causing some organizations to look externally.”
Organizations Widen the Aperture, as External Appointments Dominate
One of the more notable shifts Russell Reynolds found in the first quarter of 2026 was how organizations filled the CHRO role, with external hiring moving back ahead of internal appointments.
A total of 56 percent of incoming CHROs were external hires, up from 46 percent in Q1 2025 and above the seven-year average of 52 percent. That shift was driven in part by the S&P 500 and FTSE 100, both of which leaned more heavily on external hiring than the global market, likely fueled by their preference for experienced hires.
Related: CEOs and CHROs: Strategic Alignment or Differing Priorities?
In the S&P 500, 67 percent of CHRO appointments were external in the first quarter of 2026, up from 30 percent in Q1 2025. The FTSE 100 moved in the same direction, with 75 percent of appointments going to external hires, up from 50 percent a year earlier.
Overall, Russell Reynolds is seeing organizations deliberately choose between two valid CHRO profiles: an internal leader who knows the business, its culture, and where resistance to change sits; or an external leader who brings fresh perspective, a track record of leading change, and a clearer playbook for transformation.
“The balance appears to be shifting depending on what organizations most need from the role,” the Russell Reynolds report said. “At the same time, CHROs are also making more active choices about where they can have the greatest impact—gravitating toward organizations that fully leverage the role as a strategic driver, and where there is clear alignment on the ambition for the people agenda.”
Global CHRO Tenure Continues to Edge Higher
Average outgoing CHRO tenure rose to 5.4 years globally in Q1 2026, up from 5.2 years in Q1 2025 and above the seven-year average of 4.7 years, the Russell Reynolds report found. This marks the highest tenure level in the period tracked, continuing the gradual upward movement seen in recent years.
“The data suggests organizations are holding CHROs in role for longer before making a change,” the Russell Reynolds said. “That may reflect the growing breadth of the CHRO remit, with boards and CEOs placing greater value on continuity in a role that now spans leadership, culture, transformation, succession, and workforce strategy. At the same time, the upward global trend was not uniform across all markets. The FTSE 100 contributed to the increase, with outgoing CHRO tenure rising to 5.8 years in Q1 2026 from 3.5 years a year earlier. The S&P 500, by contrast, moved in the opposite direction, with average outgoing tenure falling to 4.59 years from 6.33 years in Q1 2025.”
What This Means for CHRO Succession
The Q1 2026 data suggests CHRO succession is becoming more deliberate. “Organizations are making slightly fewer moves overall, but when they do make a change, they are widening the search, weighing experience carefully, and holding leaders in role for longer,” the Russell Reynolds report concluded. “The rise in external hiring signals a greater willingness to look beyond internal pipelines, while the continued strength of first-time appointments shows that step-up talent still has a clear place in the market. Together, these trends point to a succession environment in which future-fit role definition, internal bench strength, and the ability to lead transformation matter more than ever.”
Related: The CHRO’s Role in Private Equity: Driving Value at Speed and Scale
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
