Other key findings include:

CHRO turnover increases. CHROs realized a 16 percent higher turnover rate in 2019 than in 2018. Nearly one in five (19 percent) CHROs turned over in 2019 implying organizations replace their CHRO every 5.27 years. Larger revenue company CHROs were more likely to experience turnover than smaller revenue company CHROs. The financial and health care sectors combined represented 39 percent of the CHRO moves in 2019, with seven CHRO moves each.
Female CHROs on the rise. Over three-fourths (78 percent) of the new CHROs in 2019 were female — the largest percentage of female CHROs since the report's inception. From 2018 to 2019 alone, female representation in the Fortune 200 role increased 12 percent from 60 percent to 67.3 percent overall. This increase is largely due to a number of outgoing male CHROs being replaced with female CHROs in 2019.
Advanced education is prevalent. All of the new CHROs of 2019 obtained a bachelor's degree or equivalent. Advanced degrees were 35 percent more common in 2019 than 2018 with 65 percent of CHROs holding one or multiple advanced degrees. Of CHROs with an advanced degree, 86 percent held a master's degree or equivalent and 22 percent held a juris doctorate degree.

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