- Push-out Score determined
- After almost 21 years in the position
- Search for a successor
(exechange) — Santa Paula, California, October 28, 2019 — Lecil Cole, chief executive of Calavo Growers, leaves. As announced by Calavo Growers Inc. in a regulatory filing published on Monday, October 28, 2019, Lecil E. Cole leaves his post as Chief Executive Officer at the consumer goods and farm products company after almost 21 years in the role, effective during the first quarter of calendar year 2020.
It is the end of an era.
Among the 3,000 largest publicly held companies incorporated in the U.S. based on market capitalization, the average tenure of the CEOs who announced their departure over the past 12 months was 7.3 years, according to data compiled by exechange. On an accumulated basis, around 4% of the CEOs who announced their departure over the past 12 months left their posts after more than 20 years.
Calavo Growers will undertake a search for a successor.
No reason given
In the announcement, Calavo Growers did not explicitly explain the reason for Lecil Cole’s move.
Precise information regarding Lecil Cole’s future plans was not immediately available.
“Retire”
Calavo Growers said: “On October 24, 2019, Lecil E. Cole advised Calavo Growers, Inc. (“Calavo”) of his intention to retire as Calavo’s President and Chief Executive Officer, during the first quarter of calendar year 2020.”
Share price increase since October 2014
The announcement follows an increase in Calavo Growers, Inc.’s share price of 88% since October 2014.
In the position of CEO since 1999
Lecil Cole became CEO of the Company in February 1999.
Cole has served as the Company’s Chairman of the Board of Directors, Chief Executive Officer and President since February 1999.
He served as an executive of Safeway Stores from 1964 to 1976 and as the Chairman of Central Coast Federal Land Bank from 1986 to 1996.
Cole has served as the Chairman and President of Hawaiian Sweet Inc. and Tropical Hawaiian Products, Inc. since 1996 (both of these entities were acquired by Calavo in 2008).
Cole farms a total of approximately 4,400 acres in California on which avocados and cattle are produced and raised.
Cole also advised Calavo that he intends to continue to serve as Calavo’s Chairman of the Board of Directors, with a focus on maintaining and enhancing Calavo’s business relationships with its investors and suppliers of avocados and other products.
Push-out Score determined
The Push-out Score™ determined by exechange gauges the pressure surrounding the management change on a scale of 0 to 10.
exechange reached out to Calavo Growers and offered the company the opportunity to comment on the score.
Read the full story in the exechange report 44.2019 ($).