Board Roles: Only CEOs Need Apply?
The highest percentage of CEOs in a decade were appointed to public boards thisyear. Are they the best for the job, and are there enough of them?
It was a growing trend for boards for a while—add more expertise in everything from cyberspace to AI, given the enormous risks in those areas. But there appears to be one type of expertise that still rules the day: being a chief executive officer.
In 2026, more than one-third, or 37%, of new directors appointed to S&P 500 boards are current or former CEOs, up from 30% in 2025, and the highest share since 2012, according to a new survey. Experts say the fixation on getting CEO talent on the board extends well beyond the largest publicly traded firms. “The boards are valuing the ability to understand the challenges that the CEO is facing, and the environment is more challenged than ever before,” says Jane Edison Stevenson, Korn Ferry’s global vice chair for board and CEO services.
Companies are dealing with numerous challenges, of course, including trade and political turmoil, rising costs, disaffected employees, angry investors, and AI. “A CEO board director can bring the wisdom, judgement, and experience that other more specialized directors may lack or have less of,” says Joe Griesedieck, vice chair and managing director of Korn Ferry’s Board & CEO Services practice.
Still, appointing a CEO to a board isn’t necessarily a slam dunk. For one thing, not all CEOs make great directors. Experts say they can become heavy-handed if they forget that their role is to advise the current boss, not to lead the company. “When you’re running the organization and creating a vision for how the company needs to transform, the skills needed to do that can become a bit of a handicap as a director,” says Elise Schroeter, global head of organization and talent strategies for Korn Ferry’s Board and CEO practice.
Plus, boards that prioritize CEOs as directors can find themselves with too many generalists, without expertise in key specialties such as AI, sustainability, and international relations. One 2025 study indicated that only 32% of executives think their boards, as currently composed, have the right balance of expertise. “The leadership teams want people living in today’s challenges,” says Tierney Remick, co-leader of Korn Ferry’s Board and CEO Services practice.
Experts say there’s another issue involving CEOs—there may not be enough of them. Many of the retired CEOs willing to be directors already serve on multiple boards. Fewer than 1,400 US publicly traded US firms have more than $1 billion in revenue, and many of their CEOs are unwilling to sit on the boards of other companies or are waiting until they retire (a change in mindset from a decade ago, experts say). And while boards want CEOs, some directors are discounting former top bosses who haven’t held the position in many years. “There are not enough CEOs to go around for all the demand,” says Remick.
Boards want to bring in veteran CEO talent because they’re so often picking first-time CEOs to run their own firms. First-time CEOs currently lead about 80% of the US’s largest publicly traded firms, and on average, only 15% of boards believe they did a very strong job preparing them, according to the 2026 Korn Ferry CEO and Board Directors survey. CEOs on the board have likely had to contend with some of the same issues that face (or will face) the current CEO, says Griesedieck.
Experts say boards might consider getting creative in acquiring CEO-level talent. Some firms have tapped CEOs of foreign firms who, earlier in their careers, spent significant time in the US. Other boards are bringing in current or former CEOs of large private companies (as long as those executives have previous high-level experience at a publicly traded company). Still others are looking one step below CEO, at executives who are responsible for billion-dollar businesses folded into larger public companies. “P&L leadership is the number-one priority,” Remick says.
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