71% of new CEOs of Russian companies in 2023 turned out to be “internal” candidates

These data are contained in the report “Russian CEO Index” by the consulting group KFR (formerly Korn Ferry Russia), which acquainted RB.RU with the results of a survey among managers of the 105 largest Russian companies by capitalization.

From March to December 2022, management changed in 19% of domestic companies, which KFR analysts rate as “an extremely high figure for this segment of the labor market.” They also note that a similar percentage of CEO turnover was observed in the pandemic year of 2020 (20%).

Among the reasons for the sudden change in leadership, respondents cited “pressures from external circumstances” (mainly sanctions). In addition, there is a shortage of managers in the market (many are leaving the country), as well as an insufficient number of managers with high competencies in crisis management.

The new CEOs were mainly sought within the companies themselves, without hiring contracted managers: 71% of appointments in 2023 were made by internal candidates (in 2020, they were 66%). The greatest promotions within companies were observed in the industrial sector (79%), the least in the financial sector (50%).

In internal recruitment, senior managers or the CEO of another company in the group are appointed to a leadership position. The average age of new CEOs is 52 years old. Most of them already had similar management experience.

However, experts point out that the level of CEOs who first found themselves in this role is not harmonious for the economy. They reached 40%, when normally the proportion of newcomers to management should not exceed 30%.

KFR data also shows that the number of women taking on the CEO role has increased: it is very small (2.8% of total CEO appointments), but still triple the 2020 figure (1%).