CHRO Churn Is High; First-Timers and Non-HRers Are Grabbing Roles

Rising turnover in the chief human resources officer (CHRO) role has opened the door to more first-time selections, including some who have transitioned from outside HR entirely.

A recent report from executive search and leadership advisory firm Russell Reynolds showed these trends in the first three quarters of 2025:

• 127 CHROs were appointed globally, up from 94 in the same period one year prior.
• 61% of CHRO appointments in that period were first-timers, up from 53% the year before.
• Among the first-timers, 77% were internal successors — indicating the value placed on institutional knowledge of the organization.
• Within the internal succession first-time CHRO cohort, many shifted into the role from outside conventional HR career pathways.

The non-HR tracks for new CHROs included finance, risk, legal, compliance, operations, sustainability, communications and more.

Access a bonus Workspan Daily Plus+ article on this subject:

• When Your First Day in HR is as CHRO: Making the Leap Work
• The Advantages and Challenges of Working with a Non-HR CHRO 

Behind the Influx of First-Timers

Russell Reynolds found the recent increase in CHRO turnover parallels a surge in CEO transitions — 10% of S&P 500 companies appointed a new CEO in the first three quarters of 2025, and 59 S&P 500 CHROs were appointed in the same period.

“Boards and CEOs are looking for fresh perspectives on talent challenges that feel increasingly business-critical rather than purely functional,” said Ani Huang, the president of policy and practice at the CHRO Association, a nonprofit entity focused on HR leadership policy and practice issues. “There’s also frankly some frustration in certain corners with traditional HR approaches, and a belief that an outsider might shake things up productively.”

The HR function, and by extension the CHRO role, has been tested in recent years, noted Alex Kirss, a director in Gartner’s HR practice and leader of the advisory firm’s CHRO research team.

According to Kirss, the COVID-19 pandemic imposed significant strain on HR teams, and the elevated emphasis on artificial intelligence (AI) incorporation into workplace operations has increasingly put CHROs in the position of simply defending the value of human work. As the role of CHRO has evolved and become more strategic over the years, it has become progressively more common for an organization’s top HR employee to have a seat at the C-suite table and a voice in high-level strategic conversations — but “they’re still often knocking on closed doors,” he explained.

“CHROs are being pushed into uncomfortable territory when it comes to having to speak up for the role of employees in organizations that increasingly are devaluing them,” Kirss said. “CHROs have greater opportunity for impact than ever before, but that opportunity has come at a steep price. That’s what we’re seeing in terms of a lot of the turnover.”

The result is a transitional moment in the HR domain — not necessarily a generational turnover, he said, but arguably a changing of the guard in the CHRO ranks.

The nontraditional shift isn’t universal; plenty of first-time CHROs do still have an HR background. Fewer than half of recent Fortune 200 CHRO appointees came from non-HR backgrounds, according to an analysis from HR and talent management consulting firm The Talent Strategy Group.

Still, while bringing in a non-HR practitioner to fill an organization’s top HR spot isn’t an entirely new trend, it’s happening at a larger scale today, Huang said. In past decades, organizations sporadically tapped consultants, attorneys or finance executives to lead the function when emphasizing metrics, efficiency or restructuring. Today, though, the practice involves a wider breadth of backgrounds and broader strategic mandates.

Peter Cappelli, a professor of management and education and the director of the Center for Human Resources at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, similarly flagged significant changes in how non-HR executives are being brought into the fold.

“In the days of rotational assignments, top leaders were expected to have experience in whatever leadership position they were going to hold as well as experience in others,” he said. “But we never saw them hiring people with no experience.”

The Nuance of a CHRO Who Didn’t Come Up in HR

What does an influx of first-time and non-HR CHROs mean for the HR function? It depends.

Cappelli offered a cautionary view: “It’s not great, especially for those who see HR as a profession, because top leaders aren’t seeing it that way,” he said.

A growing shift in non-HR leaders being asked to lead HR could lead to “all kinds of mistakes,” most only evident internally, if the transformation isn’t tackled carefully, Cappelli added.

“[Mistakes that are externally apparent] — litigation, in particular — can be solved by basically giving the general counsel for employment issues free reign over decisions, but that’s bad for the organization,” he said. “We shouldn’t be driving legal risk to zero. When you see that, it indicates a failure of management.”

Kirss pointed to a potential upside: Infusing fresh blood into the HR function can pay significant dividends for an organization (i.e., fresh perspectives, experience diversity). Still, there is risk in designating a CHRO who lacks a robust background in functional HR performance.

“If you’re coming in as an outsider without having been steeped in those day-to-day HR operations, you don’t know what you don’t know,” he said.

Non-HR or external CHRO hires also should be aware that there may be direct reports on their new team who had set their sights on, or even interviewed for, the top HR role — which can demotivate team members and drive turnover if the new leader doesn’t take early, intentional steps. Offering growth opportunities and elevating the value of team members’ experience is critical for the new hire’s success, particularly if they lack HR experience.

This shift in the CHRO function and mindset reinforces the fact that an organization’s people strategy is central to the business and can’t function in a silo, Huang said — but it only works if the newcomers value HR’s inherent role while bringing in a fresh perspective.

“This is a pivotal moment,” she said. “[HR professionals and] total rewards professionals especially need to think beyond compensation mechanics to how rewards drive business strategy, competitive positioning and organizational change. We’re seeing CHROs who are expected to be futurists, change agents and business partners first — with HR expertise as one tool in their toolkit rather than the entire toolkit.”

Editor’s Note: Additional Content

For more information and resources related to this article, see the pages below, which offer quick access to all WorldatWork content on these topics:

• Organizational Performance
• Total Rewards