We expect CEOs and CFOs to retire at a record pace over the next 12 months due to burnout associated with COVID-19. Last year senior executives scrambled to set-up Work-from-Home environments. This year it will be another headache, namely defining back-to-the-office policies and executing them. At many companies it is the CFO who is the point person on these type of activities. At others it is the CEO. Thus, many CFOs will take early retirement or take a year or two off. CEOs may promote themselves to Executive Chairman or if already Chairman, drop the CEO role, or potentially sell the company they lead. A good proxy was when former Salesforce.com (tkr: CRM) CFO Mark Hawkins announced his retirement last December. Hardly a surprise at the time given the grueling year 2020 must have been for Mr. Hawkins, especially given that his former colleague – Salesforce co-founder and CEO Marc Benioff – hardly qualifies as what I would define as an “Operator” CEO. Benioff himself will likely relinquish the CEO chair later this year.
