- After almost eight years in the position
- Praise for Leonard
- Tom Boehning taking over
- Leonard said 122 words
(exechange) — Minneapolis, Minnesota, January 9, 2023 — Tom Leonard, chief executive of Agiliti, leaves his position. As announced by Agiliti Inc. in a news release and in a regulatory filing published on Monday, January 9, 2023, Thomas J. (Tom) Leonard leaves his post as chief executive officer at the service provider to the U.S. healthcare industry, after almost eight years in the role, effective March 10, 2023.
The average tenure of CEOs who announced their departure over the past 12 months was 8.3 years. This is according to data collected by CEO-exit 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.
Leonard leaves the company effective March 31, 2023.
Tom Leonard’s duties as CEO will be taken over by Thomas W. (Tom) Boehning, currently President at Agiliti Inc.
“Thoughtful and deliberate succession planning process”
Tom Leonard’s departure from the CEO post is explained as follows. Leonard said: “This transition is a result of a thoughtful and deliberate succession planning process completed by our Board of Directors.”
The top three reasons cited in corporate announcements for CEO departures over the past 12 months are performance issues (26.6% of cases), implementation of a planned succession (16.4%) and the statement that the time was right for a change (8.4%), according to exechange data. Other motives given for leadership changes included the outgoing CEO’s wish to pursue other opportunities (6.3% of cases), personal reasons (3%) and conduct issues (2.4%). Rather rarely stated reasons are health problems (2.1% of cases), career change (2.1%), the desire for more time with family (0.9%), death (0.9%) and disagreement (0.6%). Sometimes, more than one reason was given. In 30.4% of cases, no reason was given.
Precise information regarding Tom Leonard’s future plans was not immediately available.
“Retire”
Agiliti said: “Tom Leonard will retire as Agiliti CEO on March 10, 2023, and continue on as a member of the company’s Board of Directors.”
Agiliti further said: “On January 6, 2023, Thomas J. Leonard, Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of Agiliti, Inc. (the “Company”), notified the Chairman of the Board of his decision to retire and resign from his position as Chief Executive Officer of the Company effective as of March 10, 2023 (the “Resignation Date”). Subsequent to the Resignation Date, Mr. Leonard will remain employed by the Company in an advisory role though March 31, 2023 (the “Transition Date”). Mr. Leonard will continue to serve as a member of the Board indefinitely.”
Generally, retirements are seen as formally voluntary departures. Still, CEOs may also be pressured to accelerate their retirement plans. In fact, 32% of the time “retire” was used in CEO departure announcements over the past 12 months, the departing chief executive received a Push-out Score above the critical threshold of 5, indicating elevated pressure.
Share price decline since January 2022
The announcement follows a decline in Agiliti Inc.’s share price of 32% since January 2022.
In the position of CEO since 2015
Tom Leonard became CEO of the Company in 2015.
Leonard will remain an employee of the Company to assist with the transition of his executive responsibilities to Boehning until March 31, 2023.
Thomas J. Leonard joined the Company as Chief Executive Officer and has been a member of the Company’s Board of Directors since April 2015.
Prior to joining the Company, Leonard served as the President of Medical Systems for CareFusion Corporation, where he led the $2.4 billion revenue global medical device segment, which includes Alaris® infusion pumps, Pyxis® automated dispensing and patient identification systems, and AVEA® and LTV® series ventilators and respiratory diagnostics products.
Prior to joining CareFusion in 2008, Leonard served as the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Ambulatory Solutions for McKesson Provider Technologies, and prior to that, Executive Vice President of Operations for Picis, Inc.
Leonard has a bachelor’s degree in Engineering from the United States Naval Academy and an MBA from S.C Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University.
122 words by Tom Leonard
In the news release announcing his departure as CEO of Agiliti Inc., Tom Leonard received praise.
In the announcement of the leadership change, Tom Leonard said 122 words.
“Propel the company’s continued progress”
Tom Leonard stated: “Tom Boehning has been integral to our growth and evolution during his tenure as President. In his first three years at the company, he led the expansion of our solution offering and elevated Agiliti’s commercial capabilities, bringing more of our critical services to our more than 9,000 customers. His unwavering commitment to our essential role in healthcare is evident in our strong growth momentum, and our proven track record of creating value for shareholders. This transition is a result of a thoughtful and deliberate succession planning process completed by our Board of Directors. We have every confidence that Tom Boehning is the right next leader to sustain Agiliti’s proud heritage and propel the company’s continued progress through its next era of growth.”
Over the past 12 months, 27% 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 109 words. The longest statement was 382 words. The shortest statement was 23 words. Leadership transitions in which departing CEOs provide conspicuously short, excessively long or no explanations for their move are statistically associated with elevated pressure and show an increased incidence of Push-out Scores above the critical threshold of 5.
33% 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, with 0 being most likely a voluntary move and 10 being most likely a forced exit. Anything over a 5 indicates that there are valid reasons to believe an executive may have been pushed out.
Of the 335 CEO departures in the Russell 3000 Index evaluated over the past 12 months (January 9, 2022, to January 8, 2023), the average Push-out Score was 5.7, according to exechange data. References to conduct issues, disagreements and irregularities lead to the highest Push-out Scores. When performance issues, time with family or other opportunities were cited as departure reasons, the average Push-out Scores were also significantly elevated.
Around 33% 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 or fired.
Pressure in the health care sector well above the critical threshold
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, utilities and financials sectors, as measured by average Push-out Scores.
In the health care sector, which includes Agiliti Inc., the average Push-out Score over the past 12 months was 6.8, which is well above the critical threshold of 5.
In the health care sector, 27 exiting CEOs received Push-out Scores of 8 or higher over the past 12 months, indicating that they were most likely forced out or faced strong pressure to step down.
Push-out Score for Tom Leonard’s move determined
The Push-out Score regarding Tom Leonard’s move is explained point by point in the exechange report.
exechange reached out to Agiliti and offered the company the opportunity to comment on the score.
Read the full story in the exechange report 3.2023 ($).