Leadership
APAC CEO turnover hits 7% in H1 2025, surpasses global average: report
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Japan and Australia made up most of the new appointments, while Singapore had some of the longest CEO tenures.
While global CEO appointments continue their historic eight-year slump for the first half of 2025, leadership changes are happening more rapidly in the Asia-Pacific, according to a recently published study from Russell Reynolds Associates (RRA).
In its Global CEO Turnover Index, RRA reported a 7% CEO turnover rate across the Asia-Pacific, slightly ahead of the worldwide average of 6%. Of the newly appointed CEOs from the region, more than half were from Japan and Australia.
“While many organisations across the globe are adopting a cautious approach to CEO changes due to regulatory and trade uncertainties, APAC markets are demonstrating more dynamic leadership strategies,” RRA wrote in its report.
“In particular, markets such as Australia and Japan are experiencing notably higher CEO turnover, likely driven by targeted strategic shifts and business transformations unique to the local market environment.”
Internal succession is also highlighted as a key driver of leadership continuity across the Asia-Pacific, with 83% of new CEO appointments being internal promotions. The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) role is also revealed to be the most common route to the top, accounting for more than a quarter of internal successions.
The study also noted that a third of CEO turnovers within the region were planned successions, suggesting increasing maturity in Asia-Pacific leadership changes, while 67% had first-time CEOs appointed.
“Companies that prioritise strategic succession planning and invest in developing internal leadership pipelines are better positioned to sustain long-term growth amid these dynamic market conditions,” said Euan Kenworthy, managing director at Russell Reynolds Associates Singapore.
Globally, only 114 CEO appointments were recorded in H1 2025, which is 19% lower compared to H1 2024. The global average tenure for outgoing CEOs also dropped to 6.8 years within the same period, the lowest since tracking began in 2018. In contrast, CEOs in Singapore had much longer average tenures at 8.8 years.
“CEOs across Asia-Pacific are navigating an increasingly complex environment where delivering business results goes hand-in-hand with driving continuous innovation and transformation,” Kenworthy said. “This evolving leadership landscape demands agility and resilience, with varying tenure lengths reflecting how organisations balance stability with the need to adapt rapidly.”
The report also noted that male CEOs made up 96% of the global leadership changes in H1 2025, with APAC slightly higher at 98%. Similarly, 104 out of the 114 newly appointed CEOs worldwide were men, while in the Asia-Pacific region, 38 out of 40 were men.
RRA’s Global CEO Turnover Index tracks CEO departures from constituent companies across stock indices in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, and other major global markets.
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