April 30, 2026

What to Do When a CEO Quits: 5 Critical Steps for Stability

What to Do When a CEO Quits: 5 Critical Steps for Stability
Key Takeaways

Critical Reminders for Companies When Your CEO Quits

  • Act Immediately


When a CEO quits, the priority is stabilizing leadership; successful companies appoint an interim CEO within days to maintain continuity.

  • Control the Narrative


Clear communication with employees, investors, and stakeholders is critical to preserving confidence and avoiding disruption.

  • Stability Matters

An experienced interim CEO is the most effective way to bridge the gap while you conduct a thorough search for a permanent leader.

The feverish pace of CEO exits from US companies has slowed a bit during the first quarter of 2026, but there still were 351 CEO exits announced in the first two months of the year, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

“Boards rushed leadership changes through 2024 and 2025 in response to economic pressure, AI disruption, and political uncertainty. February’s drop suggests a wait-and-see approach,” says Andy Challenger, labor expert and chief revenue officer for the consulting firm.

Globally, Russell Reynolds says exiting CEOs have been in their jobs longer (average of 10 years vs. 6.6 years during Q1 of 2025). And, the consulting firm says, boards are replacing those CEOs with “a sharper focus on readiness, credibility, and continuity.”

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April 29, 2026

Fractional CFO vs. Interim CFO vs. Full-Time CFO: Which Is Right for Your Company?

Fractional CFO vs. Interim CFO vs. Full-Time CFO: Which Is Right for Your Company?
key takeaways

Choose a fractional CFO for ongoing, part-time leadership. This model works when a company needs stronger forecasting, cash management, and strategic finance but doesn’t yet need or can’t yet afford daily CFO coverage.

Choose an interim CFO for an urgent or time-limited mandate. Interim CFOs provide daily financial leadership during executive vacancies, organizational turnarounds, transactions, and transformations.

Choose a full-time CFO when the complexity is permanent. A permanent hire makes sense when CFO-level decisions, stakeholder management, and finance-team leadership are required every day now and for the foreseeable future.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to identifying the right Chief Financial Officer. Depending on your company stage, challenges, and goals for the future, this post explores whether hiring a fractional CFO, an interim CFO, or a full-time CFO makes the most sense.

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May 7, 2025

Why Public Companies Rely on Interim CFOs in Times of Transition

Why Public Companies Rely on Interim CFOs in Times of Transition
When a public company CFO leaves unexpectedly, the pressure is on. Reporting deadlines, investor calls, and team continuity can’t wait. And it’s a growing problem. CFO turnover among S&P companies hit the highest level in six years in 2024. That’s why more boards are using interim CFO services — experienced financial leaders who can step in immediately, stabilize operations, and build confidence.
To explore how this works in real time, InterimExecs CEO Robert Jordan sat down with two seasoned finance veterans, Mitch Cohen and Lawrence Firestone. Both have extensive experience as public company CFOs.

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April 1, 2025

Mitch Cohen and Larry Firestone on Why Public Companies Need Interim CFOs

Mitch Cohen and Larry Firestone on Why Public Companies Need Interim CFOs

InterimExecs CEO Robert Jordan sat down with two seasoned finance veterans, Mitch Cohen and Lawrence Firestone to talk about the critical moment public companies face when the Chief Financial Officer job is vacant and why an interim CFO is the best way to fill the role until a new permanent hire can be brought on board.

Both Cohen and Firestone have extensive experience as permanent and interim CFOs for public companies.

This is an edited transcript of their conversation:

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November 26, 2024

InterimExecs Becomes Exclusive U.S. Partner for the Global WIL Group

InterimExecs Becomes Exclusive U.S. Partner for the Global WIL Group

InterimExecs has joined the WIL Group (Worldwide Interim Leadership) as the exclusive U.S. partner. This collaboration is a strategic move to leverage a global network of expertise. It marks a significant step in expanding InterimExecs’ reach and service offerings, bringing greater international opportunities to U.S.-based clients and executives.

“We were intrigued to learn about a global organization of interim management firms, and now we can expand our service offerings and collaborate on a global scale,” said Robert Jordan, CEO of InterimExecs.

InterimExecs’ WIL Group partnership comes at a time when the U.S. interim management market is poised for significant growth. As interim and fractional leadership solutions become more widely adopted across industries, the ability to offer global resources will be a key differentiator.

“The U.S. is a strategic priority for the WIL Group and its future growth. The concept of interim management is growing and expanding exponentially in the U.S. and becoming a key business solution alongside management consultancy. For five years, we have looked for the right partner in the U.S. and we finally found it in InterimExecs, Olivia Wagner, Bob Jordan and team,” said Jason Atkinson, Director and Co-Founder Member, WIL Group. “We spent time together in London with Bob during the summer (2024) in order to build trust and ensure alignment with values and value proposition. We wholeheartedly welcome them to the WIL Group.”

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October 22, 2024

Why You Need a Chief Technology Officer Even If You Are Not Running a Tech Company

Why You Need a Chief Technology Officer Even If You Are Not Running a Tech Company

Chief Technology Officers are most closely aligned with tech startups and software developers. But those are far from the only use cases for adding a chief technical officer to the C-suite.

The reality is that every company today is a technology company. At the very least, the company likely has a website, digital customer contact information, and some type of software solution to manage finances, inventory or other data. Plus, as any conscientious business owner will tell you, there are those niggling worries that can keep them up at night — things like wondering whether the company is vulnerable to a cybersecurity attack that will release their customers’ private data to the universe.

Does that mean you need to hire a full-time Chief Technology Officer or Chief Information Officer? Not necessarily. But you definitely need someone who has the strategic insights and decision-making power to manage the rapidly evolving technology landscape. If you don’t yet need or can’t justify hiring a full-time CTO, a part-time or fractional CTO or CIO can oversee your tech needs at a far lower cost.

But, first, let’s look at the role of a CTO in technology management.

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June 20, 2024

Executive Search Services: Why Interim Executives Are Right for Fast-Growing Companies

Executive Search Services: Why Interim Executives Are Right for Fast-Growing Companies

Interim executives — experienced C-suite leaders who take on short-term roles — traditionally are found in turnaround situations, coming in to save companies on the brink. Or they are brought in to keep a company moving forward while a new permanent hire is identified and onboarded.

But there’s another leadership role that is tailor-made for an interim leader: Using their skills, experience and executive talent to guide fast-growing companies.

An experienced interim executive is the right leader for companies facing big points of change or growth. Interim and fractional executives often step in to address growing pains many organizations feel when they lack the systems and processes to scale. On the other hand, interim executives jump in as a key part of the diligence or post-acquisition integration strategy for companies and private equity firms leveraging an M&A strategy to expand.

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March 28, 2023

Firing a CEO: The 4 Questions Every Board Should Ask When the CEO Needs to Go

Firing a CEO: The 4 Questions Every Board Should Ask When the CEO Needs to Go

So you’ve made the decision that a change needs to happen at the CEO level, and heaven knows it’s painful! You rely on the CEO as quarterback of the team. It feels like the chief executive is indispensable. But you signed up for service on the board of directors. You know that while corporate governance is a general and varied responsibility, the shareholders trust the board to choose the right CEO. It is, perhaps, the board’s most important decision.

Of course, you’ll go through a permanent search that will be thorough, even if internally focused.

But what happens if you need to fire the CEO and find a new leader right now? Having a CEO exit with no CEO succession plan in place can create a leadership vacuum. The resulting instability within the organization can cause major issues and harm company performance.

The need for a new Chief Executive Officer, the right Chief Executive Officer, is urgent.

After a CEO dismissal, the first thought for many public companies is to look around the boardroom table to see who’s brave enough to be named interim CEO for Sarbanes Oxley compliance.

But, where’s the guts in just appointing a placeholder to keep the seat warm?

The modern world now presents you with a far more robust choice: a true interim CEO. A veteran executive who’s been there, done that. Who is expert at jumping into companies going through points of change. And who is accountable for action and results.

When considering whether to bring on a placeholder versus a true interim CEO until you can hire and onboard a new permanent CEO, here are the questions to ask at your next board meeting.

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September 29, 2022

CEO Turnover: Why the Bosses Are Leaving & Who’s Replacing Them

CEO Turnover: Why the Bosses Are Leaving & Who’s Replacing Them

Millennials and Gen Z employees might get all the press for their “Great Resignation” but they aren’t the only ones who are leaving their jobs in droves. CEOs are too. The Great CEO Turnover, which peaked in 2021 and early 2022, has leveled off a bit. But it certainly doesn’t mean that your CEO is planning to stick around for the long haul.

Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas compiles a monthly report on the CEO turnover rate. The July 2022 report shows that CEO changes at U.S. companies fell to 58 in July, down 45% from the 106 CEO exits recorded in June. It was the lowest monthly total since the early pandemic departures of April 2020.

However, departing CEOs are hardly a thing of the past.

When Deloitte and independent research firm Workplace Intelligence surveyed 2,100 employees and C-level executives in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, they found that an eye-popping 70% of top management are seriously considering quitting for a job that better supports their well-being. And 81% of the top execs say that improving their well-being is more important than advancing their career.

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January 18, 2022
Robert Jordan

Executive Matchmaking and the Sacred Trust of Ownership

Robert Jordan | CEO, InterimExecs
Executive Matchmaking and the Sacred Trust of Ownership

When you own the company, it’s nothing like being an employee. You might as well compare lifting up a hundred pound weight versus a feather.

Through the years I’ve owned or been a shareholder in a number of companies. So when I initially started a career taking on interim assignments – in my case helping companies prep for sale and ultimately exiting to a financial buyer or strategic investor – I approached every company as if it was my own.

Only in running and owning a company can you know firsthand the sleepless nights.

Pondering everything. Like cash flow.

Hiring and retaining your best people.

Making payroll.

The questions are endless: how do we compete better? How do we win ridiculously large contracts? What do we do if the market goes down? How do we make our marketing viral?

Ownership is not for everyone and it is easy to feel….well, alone.

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May 7, 2021
Greg Voutsos

Great Interim Executives Are Partners

Greg Voutsos | Head of Operations & Client Engagement
Great Interim Executives Are Partners

When smart owners hire managers with the intent of working together for a long time, it’s easy to call their relationship – if it works – a partnership. It’s not a partnership in the legal sense and it’s not a partnership in the investment sense, where partners share costs and gains.

But in great working relationships between employer and employee, each looks out for the other. Each invests to build and maintain a good relationship and share the gains of working well together and advancing the mission and economic and social health of the organization.

The problem with rampant outsourcing is that it leads to thinking on the part of employers and contractors that relationships are reduced to a transaction. Pay me X and I’ll perform as ordered. Stop paying me and I’m gone.

The logic is the same whether it’s one contractor or ten thousand. While it is transactional in the letter of the contract, it is not in the spirit of one.

The danger of a purely transactional mindset is that loyalty goes out the window. Loyalty from a boss to an employee and loyalty from an employee or manager to the organization.

In organizations with a strongly transactional bent you can bet that any corporate talk about integrity is a watered-down concept at best.

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March 19, 2019

Warfare at the Top: CEO vs Chairperson Battle Royale

Warfare at the Top: CEO vs Chairperson Battle Royale

We just experienced possibly the largest wave of CEO departures in recent history. Was it due to falling profits? Poor succession planning? Or is there more drama behind the scenes? Think firings, hurt egos, politics, and personal infighting. Author Isabelle Nüssli uncovers one of the big reasons for turmoil at the top ― the fractious relationships between egos at the executive level, particularly between CEO and chairperson. Hence the brilliant title of her new book, Cockfighting: Solving the Mystery of Unconscious Sabotage at the Top of the Corporate Pyramid.

“When you read the news, usually the reason [given for the CEO leaving] was strategy misalignment or different leadership style or different chemistry, etc. But the story that is not put out to the public is that there was a relational conflict, which apparently is the case most of the time,” says Nüssli.

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