• After about two and a half years in the position
• Praise, thanks and good wishes for Witynski
• Rick Dreiling taking over
• Witynski said 79 words

(exechange) — Chesapeake, Virginia, January 24, 2023 — Mike Witynski, chief executive of Dollar Tree, leaves his position. As announced by Dollar Tree Inc. in a news release and in a regulatory filing published on Tuesday, January 24, 2023, Michael A. (Mike) Witynski leaves his post as chief executive officer at the discount retailer, after about two and a half years in the role, effective January 28, 2023.

The average tenure of CEOs who announced their departure over the past 12 months was 8.5 years. Around 23% of CEOs left their posts within three 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.

Mike Witynski’s duties as CEO will be taken over by Richard W. (Rick) Dreiling, currently Executive Chairman at Dollar Tree Inc.

No reason given

In the announcement, Dollar Tree did not explicitly explain the reason for the move.

The top three reasons cited in corporate announcements for CEO departures over the past 12 months are performance issues (26.8% of cases), implementation of a planned succession (16.5%) and the statement that the time was right for a change (8.8%), according to exechange data. Other motives given for leadership changes included the outgoing CEO’s wish to pursue other opportunities (5.9% of cases), personal reasons (2.9%) and conduct issues (2.1%). Rather rarely stated reasons are career change (2.1% of cases), health problems (1.8%), death (0.9%), the desire for more time with family (0.6%) and disagreement (0.6%). Sometimes, more than one reason was given. In 31.2% of cases, no reason was given.

Precise information regarding Mike Witynski’s future plans was not immediately available.

“Stepping down/separation”

Dollar Tree said: “Mike Witynski, who has been in leadership positions at Dollar Tree since 2010 and served as CEO since 2020, is stepping down from the Board and leaving the Company.”

Dollar Tree further said: “Mr. Dreiling succeeds Michael A. Witynski, whose separation from the Company and resignation as a director is effective January 28, 2023.”

Share price increase since July 2020

The announcement follows an increase in Dollar Tree Inc.’s share price of 62% since July 2020. July 2020 is the month in which Witynski’s tenure as CEO began.

In the position of CEO since 2020

Mike Witynski became CEO of the Company in 2020.

Witynski has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Dollar Tree from July 2020 to present.

His bio reads as follows:

PREVIOUS WORK EXPERIENCE

• December 2019 to July 2020: Enterprise President, Dollar Tree
• June 2017 to December 2019: President and Chief Operating Officer, Dollar Tree Stores
• July 2015 to June 2017: Chief Operating Officer, Dollar Tree Stores
• 2010 to July 2015: Senior Vice President of Stores, Dollar Tree Stores
• 2009 to 2010: President, Shaw’s Supermarkets
• 2006 to 2009: Group Vice President, Private Brands at Supervalu, Inc.
• 2005 to 2006: Executive Vice President, Merchandising Marketing at Supervalu, Inc.
• 1999 to 2004: Vice President Merchandising, Marketing at Cub Foods

EDUCATION

• Witynski graduated with a B.A. in Business Administration from Benedictine University.

79 words by Mike Witynski

In the news release announcing his departure as CEO of Dollar Tree Inc., Mike Witynski received praise, thanks and good wishes.

In announcing the leadership change, Mike Witynski said 79 words.

“Face the challenges ahead with fresh eyes”

Mike Witynski stated: “The opportunity to work with the talented and dedicated team at Dollar Tree has been the most rewarding of my career. During this especially dynamic period, we made the historic and consequential move to ‘break the dollar,’ and also rose to the historic opportunity to retool the Company’s leadership ranks to face the challenges ahead with fresh eyes. As I depart, I have full confidence that this team will continue to move the Company forward through the years ahead.”

Over the past 12 months, 25% 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 510 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.

34% 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 340 CEO departures in the Russell 3000 Index evaluated over the past 12 months (January 24, 2022, to January 23, 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 time with family, performance issues or other opportunities were cited as departure reasons, the average Push-out Scores were also significantly elevated.

Around 34% 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, one in three departing CEOs were forced out or fired.

Pressure in the consumer discretionary 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, financials and utilities sectors, as measured by average Push-out Scores.

In the consumer discretionary sector, which includes Dollar Tree Inc., the average Push-out Score over the past 12 months was 6.3, which is well above the critical threshold of 5.

In the consumer discretionary sector, 21 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 Mike Witynski’s move determined

The Push-out Score regarding Mike Witynski’s move is explained point by point in the exechange report.

exechange reached out to Dollar Tree and offered the company the opportunity to comment on the score.

Read the full story in the exechange report 5.2023 ($).