The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu The leading online blog in the fields of corporate governance and financial regulation. Fri, 15 May 2026 11:32:13 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.8 https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/cropped-photography-4-e1706898544564-1-32x32.png CEO/Chair Leadership: When and Why Boards Combine or Separate the Roles – The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu 32 32 CEO/Chair Leadership: When and Why Boards Combine or Separate the Roles https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2026/05/13/ceo-chair-leadership-when-and-why-boards-combine-or-separate-the-roles/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ceo-chair-leadership-when-and-why-boards-combine-or-separate-the-roles https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2026/05/13/ceo-chair-leadership-when-and-why-boards-combine-or-separate-the-roles/#respond Wed, 13 May 2026 11:32:21 +0000 https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/?p=180950?d=20260512162005EDT Posted by Matteo Tonello, The Conference Board, Inc., on Wednesday, May 13, 2026
Editor's Note:

Matteo Tonello is the Head of Data Benchmarking and Analytics at The Conference Board, Inc. This post is based on a report developed by The Conference Board in partnership with ESGAUGE, KPMG, Russell Reynolds, and the University of Delaware and authored by Ariane Marchis-Mouren, Senior Researcher, Corporate Governance at The Conference Board.

This report examines CEO/chair leadership structures in the S&P 500 and Russell 3000, focusing on succession events, chair independence, and related policy and rationale disclosures. Leadership structure remains context dependent, and most disclosures preserve board discretion to separate or combine the roles based on circumstances.

Trusted Insights for What’s Ahead®

• Large-cap companies are more likely to have a combined CEO/chair. In 2025, the current CEO served as chair at 42% of S&P 500 companies, compared with 34% in the Russell 3000.

• Incoming CEOs are rarely elected board chair at the time of transition. In 2025, 3 of 65 CEO successions in the S&P 500 (4.6%) and 9 of 353 in the Russell 3000 (2.5%) involved the CEO being named board chair at the same time.

• Most companies disclose a policy that preserves board discretion. In 2025, 79% of S&P 500 companies and 71% of Russell 3000 companies disclosed policies giving the board flexibility to separate or combine the roles depending on circumstances.

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