PRESS RELEASES

Cowen Partners Executive Search Releases the CEO/CFO Transition Risk Index

New Proprietary Framework Gives Boards a Quarterly Tool to Measure Executive Transition Risk Before a Crisis Forces Action

Seattle, 2026 — Cowen Partners Executive Search released the CEO/CFO Transition Risk Index, a structured, quarterly scoring framework designed to give boards, CHROs, and senior leaders early visibility into executive transition risk before it becomes a governance crisis.

The Index arrives at a moment of record C-suite volatility. In 2025, roughly 1 in 9 CEOs at large public companies were replaced. Global CFO appointments hit a seven-year high, with 316 incoming CFOs representing a 10 percent increase over 2024 and 12 percent above the long-term average. In the S&P 500 alone, a record 106 CFOs were hired — up 19 percent year over year.

“These are not isolated events driven by underperformance,” said Shawn Cole, President of Cowen Partners Executive Search. “They are signals of a new baseline. Leadership transition risk must be managed with the same rigor as financial, operational, and reputational risk. Most boards don’t yet have the tools to do that.”

The Index evaluates seven core dimensions of transition risk — Tenure and Career Cycle, Strategy and Context Fit, Performance and Stakeholder Pressure, Succession and Pipeline Maturity, Role Load and Burnout Risk, Team and Governance Dynamics, and Market Attractiveness of the Executive — scoring each on a 1-to-5 scale for the CEO and CFO independently. Composite scores between 7 and 14 indicate low risk; 15 to 21 indicate moderate risk, warranting active monitoring; 22 to 35 indicate high risk requiring immediate succession planning attention.

The report identifies the succession preparedness gap as one of the most pressing governance blind spots facing boards today. Only 16 percent of CFOs report that their organization has a proactive succession plan. More than 50 percent of companies that appoint a new CEO will see a CFO change within 18 months. And external CFO searches that once took four to five months are now running seven to nine months, as boards compete for a thinning pool of qualified candidates.

“CEO succession has complex infrastructure — committees, multiyear development programs, scorecards,” Cole said. “CFO succession is reactive. Most boards wait until retirement is announced, then scramble. The Index is designed to change that.”

The report includes a complete scoring rubric with leading indicators and board blind spots for each dimension, an eight-item Management Self-Assessment tool for CEO and CFO completion on a semi-annual basis, two detailed scenario walkthroughs showing how the Index surfaces risk and guides intervention before a crisis, and a 90-day implementation roadmap for boards and governance committees.

The CEO/CFO Transition Risk Index is available as a free download here: https://info.cowenpartners.com/cfo/ceo-risk-index