Among organizations on the LeadingAge Ziegler 200 list, almost 70 have had a turnover in the CEO role since 2015. Such transitions take careful planning, and for most C-suite positions, internal candidates have a greater than average chance of getting the job, Ziegler reports.
Most C-suite openings among not-for-profit senior living and care providers happened because a CEO was retiring, according to the specialty investment bank, which said that CEO openings among single-site communities because of retirement were somewhat less common.
“This is not surprising, given the fact that a number of single-site CEOs aspire to be in a leadership role at a multi-site organization and are more often prone to depart for that reason rather than for retirement from a single-site organization,” according to Lisa McCracken, director of Ziegler’s senior living and research and development group.
Since 2015, according to LeadingAge Ziegler 200 data, internal candidates have an advantage over external candidates in rising to the top leadership position. Internal candidates were hired as CEOs 59.7% of the time, compared with 40.3% for external candidates.
“This may be a function of the fact that multi-site organizations are more likely than single-site providers to have a larger poll of internal candidates who can be part of an organization’s succession plan,” McCracken wrote.
Among companies that hired external candidates, 67% of the new CEOs were hired from within the senior living and care sectors. The others came from the healthcare sector in general or related fields, such as social services, she said.
On average, it takes eight to nine months to hire a CEO, whether the person comes from inside or outside the organization.
“For those boards working with a pending retirement, it is ideal for the retiring executive to give advanced notice. There are also those situations where there is an unexpected departure, which reinforces the need to have an interim plan if needed,” McCracken wrote.
