- After almost 11 years in the position
- Praise, thanks and good wishes for Campbell
- Dave Jansen taking over temporarily
- Search for a successor
- Campbell said 119 words
(exechange) — Louisville, Colorado, November 29, 2022 — Doug Campbell, chief executive of Solid Power, leaves his position. As announced by Solid Power Inc. in a news release and in a regulatory filing published on Tuesday, November 29, 2022, Douglas (Doug) Campbell leaves his post as chief executive officer at the developer of all-solid-state battery cells for electric vehicles, after almost 11 years in the role, effective immediately.
The average tenure of CEOs who announced their departure over the past 12 months was 8.3 years. Around 30% of CEOs left their posts after more than 10 years. This is according to data collected by research firm exechange.
exechange tracks CEO departures at the 3,000 largest publicly traded companies in the U.S., examines the reasons CEOs leave and determines the Push‑out Score™, a measure of pressure on departing chief executives on a scale of 0 to 10.
Solid Power will undertake a search for a successor.
Doug Campbell’s duties as CEO will be taken over temporarily by David (Dave) Jansen, most recently Chair and President at Solid Power Inc., as Interim Chief Executive Officer.
“Drive our product development and commercialization capabilities”
Solid Power did not give an explicit reason for Doug Campbell’s departure from the CEO post. John Stephens, Lead Independent Director, said: “As we enter the next phase in our evolution and build on our momentum as a newly public company, Doug and the Board decided that now is the right time to identify a new leader who will drive our product development and commercialization capabilities.”
The three most common reasons given for CEO departures over the past 12 months are performance issues (24.7% of cases), reference to a planned succession (17.5%) and the statement that now was the right time for a change (9.1%), according to exechange data. Other reasons given for CEO departures included pursuit of other opportunities (6.3% of cases), personal reasons (3.4%) and conduct issues (2.5%). Rather rarely mentioned departure reasons are health problems (2.2% of cases), career change (2.2%), time with family (0.9%), disagreement (0.6%) and death (0.6%). Sometimes, more than one reason was given. In 30% of cases, no reason was given.
Precise information regarding Doug Campbell’s future plans was not immediately available.
“Retire”
Solid Power said: “Douglas Campbell has decided to retire from his role as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors, effective immediately.”
Solid Power further said: “On November 28, 2022, Douglas Campbell provided notice to Solid Power, Inc. (the “Company”) that he has decided to retire from his role as Chief Executive Officer of the Company (the “CEO”) and as a member of the Board of Directors (the “Board”), effective as of November 29, 2022.”
Generally, retirements are seen as formally voluntary departures. Still, CEOs may also be pressured to accelerate retirement. In fact, 30% of the time “retire” was used in corporate announcements, the CEO departure was associated with above-average pressure, exechange data shows.
“Not the result of any disagreement”
Solid Power stated, regarding the management change: “Mr. Campbell’s resignation was not the result of any disagreement on matters relating to the Company’s operations, policies, or practices.”
Share price decline since November 2021
The announcement follows a decline in Solid Power Inc.’s share price of 66% since November 2021.
In the position of CEO since 2012
Doug Campbell became CEO of the Company in 2012.
Douglas Campbell has served as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and a Class I Director.
He is a co-founder of Legacy Solid Power and served as Legacy Solid Power’s Chief Executive Officer since its inception.
He was a member of the Legacy Solid Power Board since March 2014, when it converted to a corporation.
In parallel with establishing Legacy Solid Power, he founded i2C Solutions, LLC (“i2C”), a thermal management company, and co-founded Roccor, LLC (“Roccor”), a component supplier for the small satellite industry. i2C and Roccor merged in 2015, with Roccor being the surviving entity.
Campbell served as the Chief Executive Officer of Roccor until the end of 2018 and remained on its board of directors until the company was acquired in late 2020.
He began his career in advanced technology development at the Space Vehicles Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland AFB, NM.
Campbell earned his B.S. and M.S. in Civil Engineering with a Structural Mechanics emphasis from the University of New Mexico.
119 words by Doug Campbell
In the news release announcing his departure as CEO of Solid Power Inc., Doug Campbell received praise, thanks and good wishes.
Doug Campbell said 119 words in the official leadership-change announcement.
“To spend more time with my family in Albuquerque and to pursue community and philanthropic interests”
Doug Campbell stated: “It has been an honor to serve as Solid Power’s CEO since co-founding the company, and I am incredibly proud of everything our team has accomplished over the last decade. We’ve made significant progress towards achieving our goal of creating safer, higher energy and lower cost batteries. While I am moving on to my next chapter to spend more time with my family in Albuquerque and to pursue community and philanthropic interests, I remain as confident as ever in the future of Solid Power. I look forward to continuing as a significant shareholder of the company for years to come and watching the growth and progress that I know the talented team at Solid Power will continue to make.”
Over the past 12 months, 26% of all outgoing CEOs remained silent in the departure announcement, according to data compiled by exechange. Departing CEOs who did make a statement said an average of 111 words. The longest statement was 382 words, and the shortest statement was 23 words. Statistically, management changes are associated with high pressure when outgoing CEOs provide conspicuously short, excessively long or no explanations of their move, according to exechange data. In contrast, leadership transitions are statistically associated with low pressure when departing CEOs speak more about their successors than their successes.
31% of CEOs are forced out or fired
When CEO departures are announced, exechange determines the Push-out Score on a scale of 0 to 10 to assess how likely it is that the chief executive was pushed out or felt pressure to leave the position.
Of the 320 CEO departures in the Russell 3000 Index evaluated over the past 12 months (November 29, 2021, to November 28, 2022), the average Push-out Score was 5.4, according to exechange data. References to conduct issues, disagreements and irregularities lead to the highest Push-out Scores. When time with family, performance issues or personal reasons were cited as departure reasons, the average Push-out Scores were also significantly elevated.
Around 31% of the CEO departure events from the past 12 months received Push-out Scores of 8 or higher.
In other words, in the past 12 months, three in 10 departing CEOs were forced out, fired or stepped down under extreme pressure.
Pressure in the consumer discretionary sector substantially above average
Some industries are under generally higher pressure than others, and CEOs are feeling the strain. In the past 12 months, the communication, consumer staples and health care sectors showed the highest average Push-out Scores. By contrast, pressure on CEOs was lowest in the real estate, industrials and financials sectors, as measured by average Push-out Scores.
In the consumer discretionary sector, which includes Solid Power Inc., the average Push-out Score over the past 12 months was 6, which is substantially above the average.
In the consumer discretionary sector, 20 exiting CEOs received Push-out Scores of 8 or higher over the past 12 months, indicating that they were forced out or stepped down under extreme pressure.
Push-out Score for Doug Campbell’s move determined
The Push-out Score regarding Doug Campbell’s move is explained point by point in the exechange report.
exechange reached out to Solid Power and offered the company the opportunity to comment on the score.
Read the full story in the exechange report 49.2022 ($).