Phil Wahba here, filling in for Alyson this week. It was a week of spring cleaning in the boardrooms of the Fortune 500: Several companies announced CEO changes and appointments, reflecting their need for fresh eyes and new hands at the helm at the crucial junctures they find themselves in.
On Monday, Apple (No. 4) announced that veteran engineer John Ternus would take the reins from CEO Tim Cook in September. Two days later, Best Buy (No. 108) said Corie Barry would step down in the autumn and be replaced by a long-time executive, Jason Bonfig. Also that day, Lululemon athletica (No. 401) said that ex-Nike (No. 90) executive Heidi O’Neill would become its next CEO in a few months, filling an already-announced vacancy.
If you get the impression there have been a lot of CEO changes already in 2026, you are not wrong: Longtime No. 1 Walmart, Berkshire Hathaway (No. 6), Kroger (No. 27), Target (No. 41), Walt Disney (No. 46), Coca-Cola (No. 97), Dow (No. 103), Dollar General (No. 112), Kraft-Heinz (No. 166), Adobe (No. 201), Conagra Brands (No. 350), and Workday (No. 455) are among the Fortune 500 companies to either already have new CEOs in the corner office this year or have announced a succession.
A recent paper by Russell Reynolds Associates found that the high CEO turnover we saw last year globally remained elevated in the first quarter of this year, even edging up a touch. The firm also found a preference for experienced CEOs and those who already know a business intimately, given the tumultuous environment that seems to be sparing no company. These days, that includes uncertainty around the Iran war, persistent inflation, and worries about tariffs. (A lot of CEO churn has also had to do with boards wanting chief executives to have real AI chops.)
The Best Buy and Apple moves continue the trend we saw earlier this year when Walmart and Target promoted internal leaders who had worked closely and for a long time with the departing CEO. As for Lululemon, in O’Neill they are getting an industry insider who knows the athletic apparel world intimately and can hit the ground running.
In all three cases, boards went for someone who struck a balance between offering new skills and having deep expertise in the sector. At Apple, Ternus will be tasked with making the company more competitive in AI, but also coming up with new lines of products as transformative as the iPhone or iPad were back in the day.
At Best Buy, where growth has been elusive for years, Bonfig will have to find new engines of expansion. And at Lululemon, O’Neill’s challenge is to reignite the culture of innovation that made it the leader in athleisure wear in the first place, and to shake off its current rut (similar to the one Nike found itself in not long ago).
In extolling Ternus’s virtues, Apple chairman Arthur Levinson touted the incoming CEO’s love of Apple, deep technical knowledge, and focus on augmenting the company’s core business. That seems an apt summary of the skills today’s boards are increasingly seeking in new CEOs.—Phil Wahba, senior writer
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