- After less than a year and a half in the position
- Praise and thanks for Forrester
- Michelle MacKay taking over
- Forrester said 84 words
(exechange) — Chicago, Illinois, May 5, 2023 — John Forrester, chief executive of Cushman & Wakefield, leaves his position. As announced by Cushman & Wakefield Plc in a news release and in a regulatory filing published on Thursday, May 4, 2023, John Forrester leaves his post as chief executive officer at the commercial real estate services firm, after less than a year and a half in the role, effective June 30, 2023.
John Forrester’s duties as CEO will be taken over by Michelle MacKay, currently President and Chief Operating Officer at Cushman & Wakefield Plc.
“Multi-year succession planning process”
The management change is explained as follows. Cushman & Wakefield stated that the transition culminated a multi-year succession planning process.
Precise information regarding John Forrester’s future plans was not immediately available.
“Retire”
Cushman & Wakefield said: “[T]he Board of Directors has accepted John Forrester’s intent to retire from his position as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and member of the Board of Directors, effective June 30, 2023, following 35 years of service to the company.”
“Not due to any disagreement”
Cushman & Wakefield stated, regarding the change: “Mr. Forrester’s retirement is not due to any disagreement with the Company on any matter related to the Company’s operations, policies or practices.”
Share price decline since January 2022
The announcement follows a decline in Cushman & Wakefield Plc’s share price of 58% since January 2022. January 2022 is the month in which Forrester’s tenure as CEO began.
In the position of CEO since 2022
John Forrester became CEO of the Company in 2022.
Forrester will remain employed as a strategic advisor until December 31, 2023.
Forrester has served as Chief Executive Officer of Cushman & Wakefield since January 2022.
He was also appointed to the Board in January 2022.
Prior to his role as CEO, Forrester served as Global President from 2017 to 2021, and prior to that served as Chief Executive, EMEA.
He joined DTZ Group, a predecessor to Cushman & Wakefield, in September 1988.
He is an advisory board member of British American Business and a member of Business Roundtable.
He is past president of the British Council for Offices and a Trustee of the Museum of the Home.
Forrester holds a B.S. in Urban Estate Surveying from Nottingham Trent University, and he completed additional executive education at the Harvard Business School.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
84 words by John Forrester
In the news release announcing his departure as CEO of Cushman & Wakefield Plc, John Forrester received praise and thanks.
In announcing his departure, John Forrester said 84 words.
“Vision, strategy and direction”
John Forrester stated: “It has been an honor to lead Cushman & Wakefield as CEO through its post-Covid transitionary period, which underscored the firm’s industry leadership, our core values and strengths and culminated in record company revenue and EBITDA in 2022. I am proud of our great company and what our Cushman & Wakefield colleagues around the world have accomplished. I have great confidence in Michelle as a proven leader who will offer the firm exceptional vision, strategy and direction for achieving its performance and growth goals.”
40% 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 314 CEO departures in the Russell 3000 Index evaluated over the past 12 months (May 5, 2022, to May 4, 2023), the average Push-out Score was 6.2, according to exechange data. References to conduct issues, disagreements and irregularities lead to the highest Push-out Scores. When performance issues, pursuit of other opportunities or time with family were cited as departure reasons, the average Push-out Scores were also significantly elevated.
Around 40% 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, two in five departing CEOs were forced out or fired.
Push-out Score for John Forrester’s move determined
The Push-out Score regarding John Forrester’s move is explained point by point in the exechange report.
exechange reached out to Cushman & Wakefield and offered the company the opportunity to comment on the score.
Read the full story in the exechange report 19.2023 ($).