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Good morning. Companies are actively seeking on-demand, interim C-suite leaders as disruption and uncertainty continue.
I had a conversation with Sunny Ackerman, global managing partner for on-demand talent at Heidrick & Struggles, who shared with me an eye-opening statistic—the demand for interim leaders from the firm’s clients has soared 310% since 2020. And C-suite roles account for the majority of interim placements (53% year over year). That’s one of the findings discussed in “The 2025 High-End Independent Talent Report” released by Heidrick & Struggles and Business Talent Group (BTG).
Amid C-suite turnover, interim executives allow companies to tap into a high-end, experienced talent pool, Ackerman told me. For example, CFO turnover at Fortune 500 companies is up 33% year over year, based on data from Jan. 1 through April 6, according to the Heidrick & Struggles’ data.
However, Ackerman said the need for interim talent isn’t solely turnover, referring to when an executive leaves a company or takes on a new role. It’s also when an organization needs “critical talent at a critical time,” she said.
The analysis found that interim CFOs make up half (51%) of all interim leadership requests within the C-suite. “The type of requests that we’re seeing are really underscoring that kind of critical role that finance leaders play,” Ackerman explained. Companies want executives with financial expertise who can quickly evaluate and take hold of financial controls, auditing, or financial planning and analysis. “CFOs and their teams are really at the forefront of helping organizations stabilize and optimize the company,” she said.
The chart below indicates the percentage of interim requests for various C-suite leaders. The report provides an annual analysis of BTG’s proprietary data of large- and mid-market companies in U.S. and European markets.
Ackerman noted that companies are also expanding their use of interim leadership beyond the top tier. “Roles at the SVP and VP level made up about 33% of the requests,” she said. Meanwhile, demand below VP has risen 23% year over year, she added. For companies, this expansion into a variety of areas is really about maintaining stability during these times, Ackerman said.
Interim executives typically stay at a company typically anywhere between six to nine months to drive certain types of transformations, she said. For example, demand for experts in AI and machine learning grew 46% year over year.
Health care and life sciences, industrials and consumer markets are BTG’s top three client industries for interim talent. Health care companies are streamlining operations, either driving reorganization or cost reduction, or they are planning operational restructuring, Ackerman said. Meanwhile, in industrials, there’s a need for interim executives to manage some of the volatility, especially for companies that import or export products, she said.
Is there a trend that stands out to Ackerman compared to last year’s findings? “Businesses are tapping into business strategy and tech experts to assess AI opportunities. I found that it is starting to actually accelerate quite a bit.”
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/GettyImages-1388062547-e1745407757545.jpg?resize=1200,600 https://fortune.com/2025/04/23/demand-interim-c-suite-leaders-skyrocketing-cfo/Sheryl Estrada
