Company stakeholders have a vested interest in their CEO’s status, performance, and future. While the right CEO takes different forms, the landscape of S&P 500 CEOs reveals many paths to the top job.

A review of CompanyIQ® Corporate Governance database on the current experience (age + tenure) of S&P 500 CEOs paints a picture of the typical CEO gaining appointment in their early to mid 50s with about half a decade on the job. The bulk (81%) of CEOs fall at or between the ages of 50 and 65 with a tenure of 10 or fewer years. Men tend to be distributed more widely, appointed at both younger and older ages, though they represent 94% of CEOs. The youngest appointed male CEO in the S&P 500 was hired at 26 and the oldest at 79, while the range for women fell at 41 to 58 years. At age 90 with 51 years of tenure, Warren Buffet had the most combined years of age and experience in his current* role at 141—over twice the median for the study of 63 years. The current* median age for an S&P 500 CEO stood at 58 years.

 
CEO Experience in the S&P 500 Spans 103 Years

Methodology and Key Findings
Using the CompanyIQ® platform, MyLogIQ reviewed age and tenure data for the CEOs of S&P 500 companies. Data is based on filings for the 2020 compensation year.*

Key Findings:

  • 81% of S&P 500 CEOs fall between 50 and 65 years of age with less than 10 years in their current role
  • Average CEO age in the S&P 500 is 58.
  • Average S&P 500 CEO tenure is 7.
  • Robert Mehrabian was the oldest man appointed CEO in the S&P 500, re-appointed to his post at Teledyne Technologies in 2021 at 79 years old. The youngest was 26 – Mark Zuckerberg in 2010 with Facebook/Meta. The oldest and youngest women were Karen Lynch appointed CEO of CVS Health in 2021 at age 58 and Debra Cafaro at age 41 in 1999 at Ventas.
  • The median S&P 500 CEO had a combined 63 years of experience (age + tenure) in their current role, less than half the value of the maximum 141 years—Warren Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway, 90 years of age + 51 years as CEO. The difference between Mr. Buffet’s combination of age and tenure and that of the youngest and least experienced CEO was 103 years.
  • Trends show more men appointed CEO at both earlier and later ages than women, though men and women tended to be appointed CEO about the same median age of 52.

Introduction
A review of MyLogIQ’s CompanyIQ® database on the current experience (age + tenure) of S&P 500 CEOs paints a picture of the typical CEO gaining appointment in their early to mid 50s and having about half a decade on the job. Many of the CEOs leading some of the biggest companies in the world, however, didn’t tread this path. As the lead executive, a CEO represent one of the most vested interests of company stakeholders, raising questions about how age and tenure affects performance and succession planning for the company’s future. While the right CEO can take many different forms, we review the landscape of S&P 500 CEOs by their age (both at appointment and current*) and by tenure in their current role.
 
Data and Analysis
In Fig. 1, we see an “S-shaped” curve that characterizes the distribution of S&P 500 CEOs by age. The bulk of CEOs fall between 50 and 65 years of age, which is where the inflection points of the curve fall and where that curve goes parabolic both to the downside and upside. The youngest S&P 500 CEO in the study was 36 years old, while median and average age stood at 58. S&P 500 CEO tenure exhibits a fairly uniform distribution of CEOs from 1-10 years of tenure, slightly weighted to the downside. CEOs with tenure over 10 years are more rare, and we see the tenure curve (Fig. 1) go parabolic at that point. After Warren Buffet (51 years tenure as CEO), the next most-tenured CEO served his company for 36 years.

Fig. 1 - S&P 500 Age & Tenure - 2020 Compensation Year


 
Next, we review the age at appointment of S&P 500 CEOs and a rough measure of total CEO experience—the sum of a CEOs current* age and tenure in their current role. Men, who serve in the CEO role at 94% of S&P 500 companies, tend to be more broadly distributed on both measures, with ranges that span 53 years (26 years old – 79 years old for appointment age) and 103 years (38 – 141 years for age + tenure), respectively. The women leading S&P 500 companies saw gaps of 17 years (41yo – 58yo) at appointment and 41 years (44 – 85 years) for age + tenure.

Fig. 2 – Distribution of S&P 500 CEOs by Appointment Age, Current* Age + Tenure, and Gender - 2020 Compensation Year


 
While there is clearly higher variability among male CEOs in the S&P 500, at least by age and experience in their current roles, this can be partially explained by the predominance of male CEOs in the index—94% compared to 6% women. Trends show more men appointed CEO at both earlier and later ages, compared to women who tend to reach the CEO position more often in their early to mid 50’s. As more women serve in the top corporate job, we might expect these differences to dissipate over time.
 
Conclusion
The data paints a picture of S&P 500 CEOs appointed at a median age of 52 with a median tenure in their role of 5 years. These CEOs, however, were as young as 26 and as old as 79 when they first led an S&P 500 company in their current role. While the average S&P 500 CEO has a combined 64.7 years of age and tenure in their role (Table 1), company stakeholders should continue to examine circumstances specific to their company when considering the status, performance, and future of their top executive.

Table 1 - S&P 500 CEO Age and Tenure Summary Statistics - 2020 Compensation Year 


 
For more information about this blog post or to access the underlying data please email: support@mylogiq.com.