Security Isn't A Perk For High-Tech CEOsSecurity Isn't A Perk For High-Tech CEOs

The abbreviation CIO, according to a long-time joke, stands for "career is over." That could be an appropriate tag for CEOs of high-tech companies whose tenures as heads of companies are much shorter than those in other industries.

According to a global survey released Wednesday by the technology-management consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, CEO turnover in 1995, 1998, and 2000 through 2002 among telecommunication companies averaged 12.1% a year and IT vendors 9.7%. Energy and health-care concerns also had relatively high turnover rates of 11.3% and 9.4%, respectively. Last year, telecom CEO turnover reached 15.6%, only being surpassed by utilities, with a 15.8% turnover rate.

Telecom also leads other sectors in the firing of CEOs, with 9.4% of the top execs receiving pink slips last year. IT came in fourth, at 4.7%.In the five surveyed years between 1995 and 2002, the forced turnover rate was the highest among IT firms, with 4.3% of companies giving their CEOs the ax; telecoms ranked second at 4.2%.

For all industries, involuntary successions last year increased by more than 70%. Those leaving, whether voluntarily or not, were a bit grayer. Overall, according to Booz Allen, CEOs grew a bit grayer in 2002, with the mean age of the departing CEO 58.1 years, up from 57.1 years in 2001 and 56.8 years in 2000.

"Business leaders are enduring scrutiny and pressure unseen since the Great Depression," Charles Lucier, senior VP emeritus of Booz Allen Hamilton, said in a statement accompanying the study, CEO Succession 2002: Deliver or Depart. "The CEO mystique has all but evaporated, and director activism has replaced crony capitalism in the boardroom."